The Bad Beginning

The first book in The Series of Unfortunate Events goes to show that sometimes adults who make the system work, make the system not work. 

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire get the tragic news that their parents have died in a fire that destroyed their mansion home. A family friend, Mr. Poe, is executer of the parents estate and must find a home for the three orphans to live at. He chooses to send them to the "closest" relative (as in physically closest who lives across town but the kids have never met) who is a nasty piece of work. Count Olaf is... a nasty piece of work. He makes the kids do ridiculous chores and is an abusive acholic who is scheming to get the Baudelaire fortune. And the saddest thing is that Mr. Poe doesn't believe them because they are kids. 

This series is one of unfortunate events. These kids have a horrific life. And it only gets worse as it goes on. It has been a very long time since I've read this series though, so it's interesting to read it again, with adult eyes to pick up on the things I missed the first time. I find it really interesting too to see the different movie adaptations that have come about as well. This book is very basic where the kids don't understand that their parents were part of a secret organization--which the series gets into in the second book a bit--but the movies bring those moments up fairly quickly. Over the course of the series we get into a lot of hidden things that I know I didn't get in my first (teenage) read though. So it'll be fun to go through all 13 books (and the extras) to pick up what I missed. 

This is a good book for the start of the series. It is simple and straight forward. Olaf really is a bad guy. A nasty dude. Trying to marry Violet for her money, but is also excited for the "wedding night" is just... ick. Poor girl. The way she got out of it I don't think would actually work, but, you know, we really don't want it to happen, so we'll take it. Just get her out of there. The fact that so many marriages happened like this throughout the centuries and millennia sickens me. Poor girls. 

But for this book, Mr. Poe is also one of the worst! Olaf is obviously the bad guy, but come one Poe. He'll be awful and idiotic throughout the series. Sending the kids off to the worst places and not listening to them when the kids come to him with Klaus having handprint  marks on his face. There was his coughing fits where "he couldn't hear them" but he also wasn't trying to hear them or any of their complaints of mistreatment. Because they are kids, their complaints don't mean anything. Very much a commentary of how children are aware of what is going on more than what adults think. If only we would listen. Adults are supposed to help kids, keep them safe, but it never happens for them. Hence, A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

The Giving Tree

 I normally don't rate children's books, but this was just awful. 

I remember seeing this in the library as a kid, but because I didn't like to read much I never picked it up. Shel Silverstens' poetry books were fun and interesting to listen to in my elementary school, so when my son brought this home from his school library I was kind of excited. It would be new for the both of us. I had heard some not so favorable critics without much of an explanation as to why they disliked it, but "hey, we'll give it a chance."

A boy and an apple tree. She, the tree, was happy when the boy played around her, climbed into her branches, eat the apples she produced, and slept in her shade; he even carves his "Me + T" with a heart around it, like people do. (Okay, that's sweet.) But then he grows up and she is sad. He comes back older and she asks if he'll play like he used to. But no, he's too busy and wants money. "Can you give me money?" (My thoughts: "We'll he's a selfish brat. I hope he learns a lesson.") "No, but you can take my apples and sell them for money." ("Okay...") So he does and leaves. "And she's happy." (Alright...) He comes back again and again and she keeps giving, he branches so he can build a house, her trunk so he can build a boat, and now she is left seriously only being a stump. ("What the heck, book?!)

By the time he said he wanted a boat, my son started crying. He didn't want to finish it because now this kind tree has given everything and now she is practically nothing. "He killed her," my son said. I'm like, "Yeah, what the crap." 

At the end, he comes back as an old, hunched man and (not even apologizing) ends up sitting on her, the stump, so he can rest. "And she's happy." 

No, she's not happy. She has used up everything that she has--he has literally chopped her down--to "help" this ungrateful boy. Yes, he played and had fun at the beginning, but all he did was take and take and take and gave nothing in return. Ever. The tree's thought process was pretty much, "If he's around, it's enough." No the heck it's not. For a small moment of him being a child, he was kind, but decades pass without him around and when he does, all he wants is a little "some'em some'em" and that's enough for her. No. He is a toxic, abusive person who only wants money, houses, boats, and he literally sits on her in the end. He uses and abuses her. 

I've seen enough ladies around me who are being abused domestically, some don't know how to get out, some refuse to see it as abuse saying "I can change him" or "If I give more he'll love me like he used to" or "I'm here for the kids" or whatever other variation there is. That is exactly what this tree is doing. She's giving permission to be used and abused and, again, literally chopped down. She's no longer a tree! 

Women, and men, all over the place give up so much of their energy, time, at points their whole being for the relationships in their life. For mom's and dad's, we give so much even bringing them into the world where we have the high possibility of dying. We stay up late. We get up early. But for the most part, there is a constant love from our children which makes it all worth it. There are constantly times that let us know that having kids is worth it. We watch the children become men and women and have children of their own. We get things back. We get time and Mother's Day and Father's Day cards and weird paintings or drawings or super odd play-do statues, and good night hugs and kisses. We don't just give and get nothing in return. 

For healthy relationships in a marriage, there is time together, conversation, intimacies in all their variety, dinners, dates, folding laundry together, spring cleaning and repair projects, and so many other things. Good, healthy relationships aren't something that you go 50/50 on. Both people put 100% into their marriage. They constantly show their love, devotion, and loyalty. You give just as much as you are given. 

I saw other critics of this book saying that it shows "perfect altruism," which is "a belief in or practice of disinterest or selfless concern for the well-being of others." That is well and good, in my opinion, for short term relationships or the beginning of relationships. But for long lasting, healthy relationships, this is a horrible idea. This is a way of abuse. If someone were to do this all the time, they would be left with nothing. They would be a heap on the ground, a stump in the dirt, and are then left with the ability to not help anyone at all. This tree is no longer a tree, no longer has apples or branches or trunk. A person isn't a person anymore. All of their once hobbies fade, their longer lasting cheer recedes, and they become hollow and beyond unhappy. 

I would be all for this book being banned because there are so many people who already thing this is okay, "normal," "if I just do a little more..." It's not okay. These are unhealthy relationships that need counseling or to be stopped and ended. 

It's not worth it ladies. 

It's not worth it gents. 

Kids, don't me selfish. Be giving. But also know that self care is important too. Monitoring your own self and not becoming a stump is more important. If you don't, then you will end up with nothing more to really give. 

***

How it should have ended: not using a friend for money or gain, but as he grew older, he could have brought his own children to the tree and let them play in her branches. Then "she was happy." 

Where the Crawdads Sing

 Where the Crawdads Sing  is a phinominal book. I could not put it down so much that my ears hurt from listening to it for so long. Cassandra Campbell did such an amazing job with the reading of this audiobook. It is one where I would love to listen to it again. 

Kya is "The Marsh Girl." In the 1950's, after her mother left because of Kya's abusive father, her siblings all left. One by one. Then she was all alone, just a young girl with her abusive, often drunk father in their marsh shack far away from anyone. Eventually her father leaves her too and Kya is left all alone, left to fend for herself or die. With the basics of how to navigate the marsh and a very kind husband and wife who is willing to help her and fill up her gas tank for her boat, Kya lives. The town folk nearby don't want anything to do with her and she is laughed out of school for not knowing how to spell the word "dog." One friend she has, Tate, who teaches her to read and shows her the scientific way of looking at things, but even he leaves for college and she is left alone. As time goes by and she sees other people amongst the marsh--trappers, fishers, and local kids churning up the waves--she meets Chase Andrews, the towns handsome man. He entraps her in her loneliness and has found herself in the same position as her mom. Then one night, his body is found at the bottom of a tower and Kya is suspected of his murder. 

The way this book was written was very well done. Like I would have given this book a 5 star rating simply for it. The prose and little poems in it are fantastic. I even liked all of the biology stuff Kya got into that was in the story. They were pertinent to her character development and how Kya perceived the world around her and how she guessed that people reacted in similar situations. The characters are developed well enough--though some might be seen as bland or stereotypical, mainly the towns folk anyway. 

I loved the story. The fact that there are flashforwards until we can come to the "present" wasn't jarring like I anticipated. It flowed well and we weren't stuck with anyone I didn't want to listen to at all. I was interested in Kya and Tate; I was interested in the Sheriff and his investigation and trying to find out for myself if Kya or one of the other characters we were acquainted with had done it. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the jury's verdict and the evidence that was given. It was a very engaging read that kept me wanting more. 

Like I said, I would have given this a 5 star, easy, except for two things that I don't like in the stories I read: descriptive sex and swearwords. It wasn't horribly descriptive, so I kept reading and finished the story. I'd rate it a PG-18, probably.  But it was defiantly farther than I appreciate with tastes of foreplay. And the swearwords, while applicable to the situation and not horribly over done, were still some $5 swear words there in a few places throughout the book. 

For those who don't care for those parts, like myself: be careful about chapter 18 and after that for a ways. If I were to actually get the book, I'd mark those parts out in my own copy (Don't you dare mark up a library book, y'all hear me!) For those who couldn't care less: go, read, enjoy. 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a very large book. Sometimes they can be intimidating, but I've found that often the large books are some of the best. (Brandon Sanderson is a great example of this.)

Harry is distraught. After witnessing the murder of a friend and fighting Lord Voldemort himself and having the whole wizarding world calling him a liar, he has every right to be. His summer is silent and no one is telling him anything. He joins his friends at Sirius Black's house and finds out there is an Order of the Phoenix that he's been left out of as well. Then when he gets to school their new D.A.D.A teacher is psycho. No answers. No Dumbledore. No help. No hope. This year really sucks. 

The characters are amazing here. I don't know of any fan base who simply hates a character as much as they hate Umbridge. Professor Umbridge is hated beyond any fictional character I know (except for maybe"F-Moash" from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive.) She is one that we obviously just detest and some consider more of a villain that Voldemort. 

I think Rowling did a great job at showing that Harry was angry. #Angst or what have you. I remember hearing about how this was a bad book because Harry was constantly complaining and angry. They blamed it on Rowling being pregnant and therefore hormones coming out in her writing. I don't believe it's credible--if she was pregnant during that time, I don't think her hormones made Harry hormonal, he had his own problems (and teenage hormones) to worry about. Yes, he was angry. Yes, he felt like he had no one to confide in or that was willing to confide in him. He felt alone. He'd just seen death and been called a liar by everyone and everything that had lips aside from his friends and members of the Order who aren't telling him anything. Harry is going through a depression and instead of closing up, which he sometimes does, he lashes out. He's getting beat down from every side and feels like he can't get up, though he keeps trying. Rowling did it well. Depression, anger, misunderstanding, hate, fear, they are all things that are prominent here but realistic. It's sad Harry lashes out at his friends who are only trying to help him, but "they don't understand" and it makes it hard on everyone. 

Just as the books are, the plot is thickening here. More and more things are happening and lots are going on behind the scenes. 

I think it's very well written and the characters help pull this one through. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

It has been years since I've actually read a Harry Potter book, but here we are. I started reading it aloud to my 7 year old  and found that he really enjoyed it. We'd watched the movies and started playing the Lego games and figured I should actually read them to him, that it help him to like reading more.

At least he's enjoying being read to.

Harry Potter, unknowing that he is a famous wizard who somehow defeated the Dark Lord while only a baby now living with his abusive aunt and uncle, receives a letter that his aunt and uncle won't let him open. They burn it and more and more letters suddenly bombard their home. Then a giant man comes and hand delivers a letter to Harry telling him that he's been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "You're a wizard, Harry." Suddenly a whole new world opens up where he discovers he's famous and an learn to do magic. But the world isn't as easy going as he thinks. The Dark Lord is out there, somewhere, wanting to gain back his power to take over the Wizarding world and kill Harry in the process. Can he and his new friends figure out what is going on to stop the Dark Lord from returning?

We all know this story by now. Hopefully it's a good enough summary.

I didn't enjoy reading these when I was younger because I didn't enjoy reading at all. It was something every loved and I didn't read it and didn't know all that was going on. The movies helped, but every saying "the books are better" "the books are more awesome" or whatnot turned me off more to them.

But now I'm older and because my son started liking the Lego games and we watched the movies, I figured I'd give them another shot. (I'm not really counting listening to them on audio books, though the reader was beyond excellent.)

J. K. Rowling is actually very funny. The way she describes things had me and my husband (who also hadn't read them before) chuckling and smiling. Simple, yes, but for young teens it's a great read. I know that the other books become more developed as the story goes on and as she grows as a writer, which also makes these books fascinating.

I think the world that she's built is a very well developed one, even for just the first book. There are things going on behind the scenes that you know she is developing for the rest of the series that make the whole story come alive.

In the end, I have found it to be very enjoyable (so much so that we spent most of a Sunday afternoon where I read half the book aloud til my voice became horse). We are going to be reading the next book probably starting tomorrow because being sick is dumb and takes a lot out of you as well as your voice.

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train is a National Bestseller and supposedly pretty good. I somewhat disagree. I can see why people would like the book, I however don't care for it.

The book is about Rachel who's had a mental crisis and is trying, very poorly, to function. She rides the train to work every day and at a particular stop, she watches this couple whom she deems perfect. They must have the perfect life. She's fascinated by them because her life has gone down the drain since her divorce to her cheating husband. She does drink and often blacks out, not being able to recollect anything whiles she's drunk. Megan who is spotted having an affair. And lastly, Anna, who is the woman Rachel's husband had an affair with and is now currently married to. Megan is suddenly found dead and after a drunken blackout, Rachel is trying to find out what is happened on the night she can't remember. Did she do it? Did she see who did it?

This is the story with a very unreliable narrator. Rachel is on the verge of mental snappage which makes her testimony hard to find solid footing in, which is a way to make this fun. Unreliable narrators bring twists to the story that otherwise wouldn't be there or it wouldn't be nearly as fascinating. This was the point that drew me in and kept me wanting to listen.

However, I didn't finish the book. It had a few too many and strong swear words for my liking as well. It was also more dark than I really wanted to read. I don't get drunk, I don't drink at all. I don't find it as fascinating as others might. I don't have a point of reference for it, not that I really want one either. Then there is the concept of affair this and that and having it constantly swirling around the page. I don't read for that. Getting cheated on isn't something I like focusing on. To have it be so constant, has put me off.

I'm sure it's a good book, for other people. Not me.

If others don't mind the concepts that are very prominent here, then they would probably enjoy it very much. Have at it. It was written well with good characters and an interesting concept. It's just not more me.

Thornhill

Thornhill is a well written, well drawn book that was a bit strange.

The written words are part of the diary of a girl named Mary from 1982 who is being bullied by the girls in orphan home. She has been bullied so bad that she stopped talking and her journal become her a solace, next to her handmade dolls, and the garden on the orphanage grounds. The artwork is the story of Ella, a girl who just moved in with her dad into a house that bordered the old Thornhill building in 2017. She goes exploring one day and follows a mysterious figure into a garden and finding dolls around the dilapidated building.

It was an interesting book, but a strange one. We feel really sorry for Mary and her trials. No one helps her and she feels like she can't confide in any of the adults around her. Then there is Ella where we don't get much from her. It's summertime and she doesn't do much but fix the dolls she finds around Thornhall. She doesn't do much else besides explore the grounds. We don't see her with friends or even with her father (who always is off at work and has no time for her).

I do find it interesting though that Mary only talks once in the whole book where there are quotations around what she says and Ella never says anything either (mainly because her side of things are all in pictures). The only time we see Ella "say" anything is when she writes a note. The similarities between the two girls are prominent but not screaming from the pages, obviously they are quiet.

It's a very sad book. Not one to read when you are sad. Especially the ending when it was supposed to be a happily ever after for the girls, but it wasn't in my opinion. A tragic ending to me, though it was supposed to be something happy-ish for the girls. I think it could have ended differently.

It was okay. Not a favorite but okay.

Page

The second book in the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce was okay.

Keladry has become a Page and is no longer on probation. This is the story of the next three years and the trials of being a page. Still dealing with bullies, going on the summer camping trips that result in adventures, get a new animal to follow her, and training to become a knight of the realm. The big thing that are different is that Kel hires a maid to work for her, Lalasa. Lalasa is a girl who has been abused by men all her life and is scared of most everything. Kel takes her under her wing and starts teaching her to defend herself against unwanted attentions. Along side her regular training, as the older boys become squires and new boys come in to be pages, Kel starts gaining feelings for a boy (though I won't tell you which).

It has very much the same feeling as In the Hands of the Goddess from the Lioness Rampant series. The fighting of bandits or wars against another country, kidnappings, training, and the "joys" of developing into a woman. There isn't even the joy of George being there, though. Cleon is okay with his flowery words to Kel and Neal is sarcastic, but I haven't grown any feelings for either of them. Not that they are bad characters, but they seem to be lacking something that is supposed to make me like them.

Out of the series, this book seems to be the one that is too similar to other books for me. It's alright, and it needs to be there for the progression of the story; it's just not one that I would pick to read on its own.

When I was younger and read this, I didn't know what was going to happen throughout the story. I wasn't well enough versed in storytelling to catch onto the very heavy foreshadowing that is laid out throughout the story. For an older audience you could definitely tell what was going to happen and how she is "protecting the small" in this segment of Kel's story. It was good, but for an older audience it would give no surprise as to what would happen.

The ending of the book on Balor's Needle was well done enough and I was glad she accomplished what she did. It gives that sense of fulfillment in the climax of the story.

For a younger audience it would be a good story. It is a young adult novel with a good purpose behind it. It would be one that I'd suggest for a young to mid-teen.

P.S. I really like her mother. I wish there was more about her mom then there is. Fix that Tamora. Fix it.

Carve the Mark

I was in desperate need of a new audio book to run too. I looked on the back of this one at the library and found that Austin Butler read for Akos. I recalled the name, and thought it was the same guy who voiced for Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices Series. I was mistaken and when looking it up, the narrator is actually the main male character in the Shannara Chronicles. Pleasant surprise.

Even with my mistake I listened to and and wasn't too thrilled by it.

The story happens in a universe where a group of planets are in connection with each other. Space travel is a thing and there is a strange occurrence that happens across their universe that changes people as a type of puberty where they get different powers depending on the type of person and personality they have.

While most of the planets are aligned as one people, there is one that is split by two peoples that have a volatile vendetta against each other. Akos is kidnapped with his brother, an Oracle and taken to the other side of the Divide. He is physically abused to "thicken his skin" and later given to Cyra, a girl who constantly is in pain and can give that pain to others often killing them, as a steward to help her with her pain. However Cyra isn't the "knife" that most people see her as. Only he can actually stop her pain and open her eyes the how things really are.

This story if full of plot and intrigue. The characters are very well developed and do grow as people. I really like how Cyra was developing and continued to do so throughout the novel. The plot was very good.

Much like her Divergent series though, it felt like she lacked in setting. Not nearly as bad as her first series, but there was still some. I don't know what the main city looked like besides old mixed with new. I don't know what their ships or guns look like. There was many things missing that it felt like there were holes in the world. This is very important, I think, to not miss especially when making a new universe, not only world. I feel like she did miss this.

In other books I have this feeling of "I need to know what happens next!" but for this one I didn't mind waiting until Monday when I was a the gym again. I didn't care for Akos. It might have had something to do with Austin Butler's reading of the Akos parts. Butler's reading wasn't the best. It actually seemed rather monotone and dull comparative to Emily Rankin who read for Cyra. His voice didn't change for the characters unless the girls were whining or screaming. It was very dull to listen to.

I do understand that reading it yourself is different than listening and you can come away with different experiences, so I would give it a good review for mid-teen readers. They would enjoy it. An older audience who doesn't care for setting would enjoy it too.