Beauty Queens- Review

Title: Beauty Queens

Author: Libba Bray

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Goodreads Summary:

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.

My thoughts:

Don't mess with Texas is right!! Especially Miss Texas from Miss Teen Dream!

I was prepared to hate this book - I mean, beauty queens, really? And the prologue didn't grab me, I in fact seriously disliked it. Other than at times being a little over the top and heavy on the satire of modern pop culture, I loved this book. I got past the prologue, and into the actual plot of the book, and couldn't stop reading about these girls!

There was a part in A Great and Terrible Beauty that stuck with me - at one point the girls look around at each other, and are like, (paraphrasing here) we are only told to be stuck in this victorian vision of womanhood because they fear us, fear our power as women. In Beauty Queens, Bray takes this concept and develops it fully. These shipwrecked beauty queens evolve, become self-actualized, strong, and throw off the constricts society has imposed upon them! So what if they want to a wild girl, a lesbian, a transgender - they are going to be themselves, and not let the world tell them how to act and who to be.

Besides the feminist themes, this book is actually pretty funny. Some lines made me laugh out loud, which is always embarrassing if you are reading this book somewhere public, like say, your neighborhood coffee house. It is an entirely quotable book, but this was one of my favorites:

"Occasionally, from the school bus windows, she would see other wild girls on the edges of the cornfields, running without shoes, hair unkempt. Their short skirts rode up, flashing warning lights of flesh: backs of knees, the curve of a calf, a smooth plain of thigh. Sometimes it was just a girl waiting for a bus, but in her eyes Mary Lou recognized the feral quality. That was a girl who wanted to race trains under the moon, a girl who liked the feel of a silk stockings against her skin, the whisper promise of a boy's neck under her lips, who did not want to wait for life to choose her, but wished to do the choosing herself. "

This book was funny, snarky, satirical, but at the same time addressed so many different issues that young girls today face. This is a great read, and I totally recommend it.

The Magnolia League - Review

Title: The Magnolia League

Author: Katie Crouch

Publisher: Poppy

Goodreads Summary:

After the death of her free-spirited mother, sixteen-year-old Alex Lee must leave her home in northern California to live with her wealthy grandmother in Savannah, Georgia. By birth, Alex is a rightful, if unwilling, member of the Magnolia League, Savannah's long-standing debutante society. She quickly discovers that the Magnolias have made a pact with a legendary hoodoo family, the Buzzards. The Magnolias enjoy youth, beauty and power. But at what price?

My thoughts:

This book has all the ingredients to push my reading buttons - Savannah, one of my all time favorite cities, hoodoo/magic, a hippie chick for the main character- I love all these details. Somehow though, I didn't love this book. I really wanted to though.

This book somewhat reminded me of A Great and Terrible Beauty- secret societies, magic, popular girls bordering on mean girls. I think that Beauty had better character development and was overall done better, but both books had similar themes, including a magical mother who died without telling her daughter anything about what they may be inheriting.

If Alexandria had been my friend, she would have been a really annoying, preachy friend. I am a vegetarian, I believe in being environmentally conscious, but I don't insult people who don't believe the same way. I think I make my opinions known in a way that is less aggressive than Alex. I do like how she was very stick to her guns, and made friends with Dexter, even though he wasn't one of the kids who was near the realm of a Magnolia. I was very disappointed in Crouch perpetuating the idea of beauty only belonging to those who are thin. I was disturbed by all the times that Alex was called Piggy, or Pudgy, and just let it happen to her. She hated being overweight, and had the easy transformation to thin perfection through hoodoo. And her character made no bones about the fact that she never wanted to be chubby again. I think this sends the wrong message about weight to an age group that already struggles with this concept. Body image is something even adult women struggle with, and I believe is particularly damaging for a young girl.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series though, believe it or not- there were a few characters that I actually liked. Hayes, Alex's friend, who seemed genuine and intelligent; Sam and Sina Buzzard, I just want to know more of their story; and Alex's grandmother, I feel we have just tapped the surface of this hoodoo matriarch of the Magnolias. I want to see what else she can do, I guess.

As a YA book, I liked this book more than Twilight, less than Hunger Games and A Great and Terrible Beauty. For me, it fell somewhere in the middle. I have hopes the next one will be better.

Pawleys Island- Review

Book: Pawleys Island

Author: Dorothea Benton Frank

Publisher: Berkley

Goodreads Summary:

Catapulted from her home, her marriage and her children, artist Rebecca Simms has come to Pawleys Island to hide herself from herself. Little does she know that on this “arrogantly shabby” family playground, she’ll encounter three people who will change her life: a wise and irresistible octogenarian who will pry her secrets from her, a gallery owner who caters to interior decorators and heaven save us, tourists, and a retired attorney from Columbia who’s complacent in her fat and sassy life until Rebecca’s stormy advent.

With characteristic humor and a full cast of eccentric and wonderfully lovable characters, Dorothea Benton Frank brings us a refreshingly honest and funny novel about friendship, family, and finding happiness by becoming who you are meant to be.

My thoughts:

I am in love with the south, or at least my romanticized version of it. One day I will live there- perhaps when home values go back up in Michigan and we can sell our house. Until then, here I am in the North, dreaming of the south. I find myself in the same reading patterns every summer - reading books set in the south, Faulkner to Tennessee Williams (love him), to Connie May Fowler (another favorite), to Dorothea Benton Frank. There are no limits or limitations.

This summer is no different. As soon as the weather began to change from the cool spring weather to the humidity of Michigan summers, I found my reading material shifting course. I picked this book up in the library, and fell in.

What a wonderful world Rebecca landed in - and such good, influential friends she found immediately. Yep, this book was true escapism. The book begins by talking about how at times we all want to just run away, start over, become someone new somewhere else, leaving our problems behind. Rebecca runs away to start over, but her new friends help her to face what she is trying to leave behind. She just gets to do it from a condo on a Georgia coastal island, with rich friends. If I were going to run away and start over, this is how I would want it to work out for me too.

Great book for daydreaming about island living in the south - makes you want an ocean view and a hammock if you don't have one, that is for sure!

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Review

Title: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Author: Jacqueline Kelly

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Goodreads Summary:

The summer of 1899 is hot in Calpurnia Virginia Tate's sleepy Texas town, and there aren't a lot of good ways to stay cool. Her mother has a new wind machine from town, but Callie might just have to resort to stealthily cutting off her hair, one sneaky inch at a time. She also spends a lot time at the river with her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist. It turns out that every drop of river water is teeming with life - all you have to do is look through a microscope!

As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

My thoughts:

I read this book as part of a self-assigned summer reading homework list- it is a Newbery Award Winner, and I will be promoting those in the fall at work., and I wanted to be familiar with this one.

I am glad that I read it - I very much enjoyed it. I loved how Calpurnia didn't want to just give in and be what everyone wanted her to be, the perfect girl child who does what she is told, only interested in homemaking skills and becoming a good wife. This would be fine, if that is what she had been interested in. She is not though - she is interested in the world around her, full of curiosity about why things are the way they are. She finds an ally in her grandfather, whom everyone else in the family seems to dismiss as crazy or intimidating, when he really is a very intelligent gentleman. He encourages Calpurnia in her naturalist studies, taking her with him on explorations and involving her in a larger project. You do have to feel sorry for Calpurnia though- for all her natural aptitude and love of science, she is at a disadvantage of being a female in 1899, before equal rights and feminism. Calpurnia is ahead of her time, which is a little disappointing and heartbreaking at times, as she realizes she will have to fight for a different type of life than the one mapped out for her.

I am looking forward to the students reactions at my school to this book and Calpurnia's life and trials as a budding scientist. I hope it makes them think about what educational and life opportunities they have now, compared to what was available in 1899.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly blog meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you list the books you read last week and the ones you hope to read this week!

Read Last Week:

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly: Calpurnia Tate is a coming of age story set in a rural area of Texas during the 1890s. It is a Newbery Award Winner, and is one of my "summer reading requirements" that I assigned myself this summer. I brought home a huge pile of books from work to read over the summer break - there is nothing worse than when one of the students asks me what I think of a book and I have to say I haven't read it! I am hoping to have my review finished in the next day or two, but I thought this book was a lovely little read.

The Bucolic Plauge by Josh Kilmer-Purcell: Definitely one of my favorite books I have read all year!! I wanted to crawl through the pages and hang out with Josh, Dr. Brent and Farmer John. I wanted to help with the goats. This book was charming and funny, and I absolutely love books that are about farming- especially when the farmers have never really farmed in their adult lives before. This book was fabulous, you can read my whole review here.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese: I planned to read this, but just wasn't in the mood. Unfortunately, I am not in the mood this week either. I will read it though! It sounds amazing!

Currently Reading:

The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch: I love this book because of its cover- yes, I do judge books by their covers sometimes, sadly. I love the city of Savannah, and this book looks interesting. I have read good things about it around the internet, I am looking forward to it.

Pawley's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank: Lately I have been beach dreaming from my house in the Michigan suburbs. I think this has prompted what I feel might become another mini author fixation. But it is summer, we all need to read something beachy and fun sometimes.

Dear Mr. Conroy

I originally posted this on my other blog in January of this year, but I wanted to repost it on this one.

Title: My Reading Life

Author: Pat Conroy

When I was fifteen years old, my father put the book The Prince of Tides in my hands and told me to read. An unusual choice, some might think, for a 15 year old female from the suburbs in Michigan, who listened to Nirvana and frequented Denny's. This was my life though, growing up. My parents started my reading education early, as young as ten when my mother gave me James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small, and never moderated or censored my reading choices; in fact they encouraged me to read whatever I could get my hands on, and suggested many of their favorites, like J.D. Salinger, John Irving, James Herriot, and Kurt Vonnegut. I read voraciously and tenaciously, hanging on every syllable of every sentence.

The Prince of Tides was a changing point in my life however; while I always read constantly, and by constantly I mean actually not putting the book down, and read while brushing my teeth, making breakfast, walking from room to room, I really couldn't put this book down. I even convinced my mom the day after I started the book that I was sick, and had to stay home from school. I finished The Prince of Tides that very day, and thus began my lifelong love of the south and southern writers. The lives of the characters in this book could not have been further from my own, yet something in the writing, in the story spoke to me. The setting, the characters, were a million miles away from my own personal landscapes, and I wanted to be part of that world. I wanted the concrete and tall buildings around me to transform into tidal lowlands; I had a crush on Luke, wanted to be Tom's friend, wanted to save Savannah. And later Luke. I can still recite from memory the poem Savannah wrote about Luke, still remember the white porpoise, Caesar, Callonwolde. This book is so full of pain and beauty and love rolled into one. I cried throughout most of it.

After that day, I read all of Pat Conroy's published works, and made sure to read every new one that came out after. Now, 20 years later, I am midway through Conroy's book My Reading Life, and am just as enthralled as I always am. It has reminded me just how in love with reading, with words, with books, with the south, with southern writers, Conroy in particular, I really am. He taught me that there is magic in a sentence, and that you can never use too many adjectives. He has shaped my northern world into one that dreams of the south, flawed or unflawed.

"Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next ten years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart." Pat Conroy - My Reading Life

The Bucolic Plague- Review

Title: The Bucolic Plague

Author: Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Publisher: Harper

Goodreads Summary:

What happens when two New Yorkers (one an ex–drag queen) do the unthinkable: start over, have a herd of kids, and get a little dirty?

Find out in this riotous and moving true tale of goats, mud, and a centuries-old mansion in rustic upstate New York—the new memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of the New York Times bestseller I Am Not Myself These Days. A happy series of accidents and a doughnut-laden escape upstate take Josh and his partner, Brent, to the doorstep of the magnificent (and fabulously for sale) Beekman Mansion. One hour and one tour later, they have begun their transformation from uptight urbanites into the two-hundred-year-old-mansion-owning Beekman Boys.

My thoughts:

I adored every word in this book! While reading it, I wanted to rush over to Sharon Springs, make friends with these guys, and become part of their world, kind of like Ariel in Disney's Little Mermaid. This memoir was light-hearted, funny, sincere, and real, and was reminiscent to me of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy by Robert Leleux . The Bucolic Plague inspired me to dream my own dreams, evoked nostalgic feelings in me for eras I never lived in, and caused me to stay up until 3 AM because it was just so good I couldn't put it down.

This book had me from the beginning, goats, diarrhea, and all. The moment Josh stuck his head out the window because he couldn't breathe, I knew I was in for a good book. The zombie flies, the paralyzing panic in Martha Stewart's kitchen, all these things and more made me laugh right out loud. The part where Josh realizes that eventually Brent is going to have to find out about the 88 goats in the barn is so something that I would do and feel. I would do something like that, and then be like, uh-oh, now I have to tell my husband? Eek! I did have to skip the scene where he slaughtered his turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, especially once he related that the turkey went with ease and calm under his arm, trusting and secure. So for anyone who is squeamish about animal death scenes, be forewarned!

But this book was not just about good times- in fact, this book illustrates how you should never take anything at face value. On the surface, Josh and Brent lived a utopian, idyllic life. For a while, at least. Then in the pursuit of perfection, they lost the sense of authenticity, the simplicity of what they were doing, and worst of all who they were together. The very traits that they loved in each other became traits they despised. I found myself wanting them to know that this was happening, to calm down, appreciate what they have, realize that it does not all have to be impeccable, Martha standard perfection. Eventually, after Josh left for work without telling Brent he loved him, they realized that the most important thing they had was each other. They seem to have it together, and I hope they do.

And anytime they want to invite me to dinner and to play with their goats, I am available. Just saying.