Book Review: Sutton

Sutton, by J.R. Moehringer, is a book I probably would never have read if it wasn't for my book club. I'm so happy I did. Sutton is historical fiction, based on the life of bank robber Willie "The Actor" Sutton. Prior to reading this book, I had no idea who Willie Sutton was.
Sutton follows a newly released Willie Sutton on his tour of New York with a reporter and photographer. Sutton is pushed into the story by his lawyer, but takes charge by insisting they follow a map highlighting important events in his life in chronological order. The novel goes back and forth between Willie's story and his interaction with the reporter and photographer on the tour. What results is a fascinating look into the mind of a bank robber whose career spanned several decades. At times Willie's version of the story is conflicted by others, which gives it an interesting "unreliable narrator" spin.
Willie Sutton is a complex character. This isn't some boring run-down of facts. J.R. Moehringer expertly builds Sutton from the ground up, starting with his childhood. He lays out all the events that lead Sutton to become a criminal, a perfect storm of circumstances that includes his upbringing, economic troubles of the day, friends, and the love of his life, Bess. And we see how, once he gets on this path, it is nearly impossible to go straight again. We see Sutton as someone who wants to be a good person, but who seemingly has no other choice at times than to resort to a life of crime. Once he gets drawn in, greed keeps him going back for more.
I'd give this book five stars, but I was a little disappointed to find after the fact that Willie had two wives and a daughter who were barely mentioned. I would have liked to see more about them instead of so much focus on Bess. I understand that Moehringer uses her as the driving force behind the route Willie takes with his life, but I feel like there is a whole other side of Willie we don't get to know.
Overall, this is a great read. It's a great blend of fact and fiction.

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I mentioned Net Galley in my last post. Yesterday I got approved for my second Net Galley book, Havisham, by Ronald Frame. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the title of this book. Could it be? Yes, it could. It's about Catherine Havisham, from Dickens' Great Expectations. I remember very fondly the first time I encountered Miss Havisham. For me, she put the "great" in Great Expectations. I'm excited to see what Frame does with her story. I just hope I'm not too excited. I hate when I get all worked up about a book and set myself up for disappointment.

Vacation hangover

I'm a little out of it this week. On Monday we returned from a short vacation. Even though we were only gone for a few days, getting back to reality has been difficult. It's odd how exhausting a vacation can be. It's not that I did much. I think it had more to do with the almost-3-year-old who slept with me and flopped around like a fish all night. I'm very happy to be sleeping in my own bed again, where no one uses my butt as a pillow.
I got some reading done while I was away, but not as much as I would have liked. Not that I'll ever get as much reading done as I would like. I am almost finished reading Sutton by J.R. Moehringer, and I'm over halfway through the second part of Shift. I'm absolutely loving both of them.
Next up on my reading list is The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler. I was fortunate enough to receive this book through Net Galley. It's my first Net Galley book. For those not familiar with Net Galley, it's a site where professional readers can request early digital access to books. I'm pretty excited about it and look forward to reviewing what I read both here and on Goodreads.
Until not too long ago, I had no idea that publishers offered advance copies of books. I discovered this (wonderful) fact one day when I was toodling around Goodreads and clicked on "Giveaways." I have received several books on Goodreads giveaways (though none recently). The only real problem (if you can call it that) with getting advance copies of books is that I feel obligated to read them as quickly as possible so I can review them. It therefore pushes the other books on my reading list back once again. And, as I've said before, I have that habit of buying a book and letting it sit for a long time before I read it. Nevertheless, I'm excited and grateful to be given the opportunity to read and review these books.

Fairytale ending? No thanks

Fairytales are often spoken of as something wonderful, the happy ending everyone wants. But when you sit down and analyze them, it quickly becomes obvious that this is not the case.

My daughter is really into fairytales right now, so we read at least a couple of them every night at bedtime. The version we read are modern re-tellings. The princess in The Princess and the Pea, for example, rides a motorbike.

Recently I read the book's version of Hansel and Gretel for the first time. At first I didn't think anything of it, but when I re-read it the next night, I was struck by how absurd the story is.

In this version, the witch/stepmother places a spell on the father to get him to ditch the children in the forest because they can't afford to feed them. I do like the spell explanation better than the original story, in which the father just agrees to do his new wife's bidding. Bad form, Hansel and Gretel's dad.

As we all know, the first time he isn't successful because Hansel leaves a trail of white stones. The second, he leaves bread crumbs and they get eaten up so they can't find their way back. Instead, they find a cottage made of goodies. There's a witch there, and she puts Hansel in a cage and enslaves Gretel. The plan is to eat Hansel. Why, I don't know. She has a house made of cake so you'd think she had enough to eat. This is supported by her efforts to fatten Hansel up by feeding him treats.

Hansel fools her into thinking he's still skin and bones by holding out a bone every time she comes to feel his finger. This is ridiculous on so many levels. First of all, since when can the witch not see anything? Secondly, how is a finger a good indication of someone's weight. She should have been feeling his belly or his leg or his arm. Thirdly, how can she not tell that there is no flesh on this bone? Any idiot could tell a bone from a finger.

Eventually, she gets tired of waiting for him to get fat and decides to eat him anyway. That's when Gretel tricks the witch into sticking her head into the oven and pushes her in. Hansel and Gretel are free, but before they leave they search the witch's house. They discover lots of money and jewelry. You would think that with all that money, she would have been able to go to the butcher's and buy a hog or something, but no, she apparently preferred cannibalism.

Hansel and Gretel stuff their pockets and lo and behold, their father arrives to save them! The spell has been broken because—dun dun DUN—the witch was their stepmother. In the original version, the kids just head back home. That's silly, because if they couldn't get home before, how do they suddenly know the way now? Also, if I were those kids, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't share the money with the people who had abandoned me. I'd move right into that house made of cake and live happily ever after.

The most ridiculous part, however, is the fact that the witch and the stepmother are the same person. If she was loaded and had a house made of cake, why didn't she bring her money with her when she married the father? If she had, they wouldn't have had to send the children into the woods. Unless...she did it on purpose because she wanted to eat the kids.

I had to know if this was how the original story ended, so I did some research. It turns out that it is implied (very vaguely) that the stepmother and the witch are the same with the line, "...and now they had nothing to fear, for their wicked stepmother was dead." Interesting.

And so, for all my over-analysis, I came to the conclusion that it's all just symbolism. With the stepmother out of the way, their troubles at home were over and they could return home. No matter how you look at it, though, it still doesn't make all that much sense.

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Le sigh. Oh, Anna and the French Kiss, how I wanted to love you. And oh, how disappointed I was.
First I should say that this is not a bad book. At the start I really enjoyed it. It was very charming and I found myself laughing out loud. As it got into the middle of the book, I found myself wondering if something interesting was going to happen. Unfortunately it didn't. By the end, I was pretty annoyed with the characters, and the "he loves me, he loves me not" story line had worn thin.
I realize I may not be the intended audience for this book. I read it on the recommendation of friends who loved it, so I expected to love it, too. Plus it was set in Paris! It had to be awesome! But I should have paid more attention before rushing to get it through inter-library loan. Young adult contemporary romance just isn't my thing. It's cute, and sweet, but lacks substance. I do enjoy some fluff now and then, but this was a little too fluffy.
I think the issue was compounded by the fact that I started reading it on the same day I started reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I know they're not really the same, since Before I Fall isn't a romance, but Before I Fall was just so much better. I couldn't put it down. In a way I suppose it was good for me to see the contrast because now I know what I'm looking for in a YA book. That sounds kind of silly, but the YA genre is fairly new to me. I avoided it pretty much at all costs until I read The Hunger Games. That series opened up a whole new world to me that I am still trying to navigate.
Now that I'm done wanting to choke Anna and Etienne, I've moved on to Shift, by Hugh Howey. I have a general phobia when it comes to series, but Wool got me hooked and I need to read more. Soon Dust will be here! I can't wait.

Dust is coming soon!

I'll admit, I can be a bit impulsive at times, especially when it comes to shopping. Last night I made an impulse buy, but I'm pretty sure it won't be one that I'll regret.
I had seen something earlier in the day about the launch of Hugh Howey's new book, and the opportunity to pre-order signed copies. Dust, the third installation in the Silo saga, is scheduled to come out August 17. I was planning to buy it, but figured I'd wait and buy it in ebook form. Unfortunately it looked like it wasn't going to be available for Nook right away, so I would have to wait even longer. That would be fine, since I haven't gotten around to reading Shift (the second part of the Silo series) yet (it's next on my to-read list).
On impulse, I clicked on a link Howey posted on Facebook about the autographed copies. "I'll just see how much they cost," I said. When I found that, with shipping, I could get a signed copy for under $25, I couldn't resist. I think it will be worth a lot more than that someday.
I watched some of the live feed of Howey signing his books and packing them up with the help of his mom last night. I was probably much more amused by this than I should have been, but I love that Hugh Howey is the type of guy who does this. He seems really down to earth, like one of us.
In my opinion, Hugh Howey is a rising star. When I read Wool I, I was blown away. It had the feeling of an old Twilight Zone episode. Who was this guy, and why hadn't I heard of him before? A lot of people know who he is now, but I find there are still a lot who don't. Not to mention the people who, when I say that Wool is Sci-Fi, wrinkle their noses and proclaim their dislike for the genre. Look, I get it. I really do. I used to be one of you. But I've started to open my eyes a little bit and I realized that I do, indeed, like Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Not all of it, but there's some really good stuff out there. I'm particularly fond of books that take our normal world and throw in something weird.
I also admire Howey because he did this all on his own. Wool was first sold as a self-published ebook. Self publishing often gets a bad rap. And yes, I agree that there is crap out there, but I think there's a lot of crap that gets published traditionally, too. (Each person's definition of "crap" is, of course, subjective.) I think a lot of people bash self publishing because it's changing the publishing industry. This is an industry that let Hugh Howey slip through the cracks by not publishing him.
Although I support self publishing, as a writer it is difficult to change my mindset and accept self publishing as a good choice for myself. A big part of it is the stigma. I see a lot of comments online from people about how they read some awful self-published work and how they'll never make that mistake again. It's not logical if you think about it. Would you ever say you read a book published by Random House that wasn't any good and you'd never make that mistake again? I highly doubt it. So, even though I realize there are many benefits to self publishing, I haven't been brave enough to take the leap for myself.
So, if you haven't read Wool yet, do it. If it's not in your comfort zone, take a step outside and give this one a chance.

It's been a very long time since I've posted here. I'd like to try to revive this blog, and focus on book reviews and my own writing.
This year I've read 36 books so far, which is equal to what I read all of last year! I started out with a modest goal of 25 books, but achieved that very easily and upped my goal to 50. I should meet that easily as well. I like having a goal to keep me reading, but I do find that I sometimes get impatient when a book takes too long to read.
Two books on my list have received five stars this year: A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, and I, Zombie, by Hugh Howey.
I love Hemingway. I make a point to read something by him every year around Memorial Day. There is just something about Hemingway that makes me want to read his work in the springtime. A Moveable Feast is about the time Hemingway spent living as an expatriate in Paris with his wife Hadley and their young son. His circle of friends there is impressive, from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gertrude Stein. None of us will ever really know what it was like to be there, but A Moveable Feast does an amazing job of making you feel like you are. I felt a strong emotional connection, so strong that I found myself weeping over F. Scott Fitzerald and his wife, Zelda. As a writer, I also relished much of what Hemingway says about the process in this book. I felt like I was getting advice from a master. That's priceless. A Moveable Feast has earned its way on my list of favorite books of all time.
My other favorite book of the year so far is Hugh Howey's I, Zombie. I know all the buzz this year is about Wool, and I loved that, too, but in my opinion I, Zombie is even better. Howey puts a new spin on the old zombie tale, by taking us inside their heads. Howey's zombies retain all their thoughts and memories, which makes them especially terrifying. Some of the characters in this book still haunt me. Read it and you'll see what I mean.
My most recent read was Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I'm fairly new to YA, having only started reading it a couple of years ago when The Hunger Games was all the rage. I've read some very disappointing ones that had a lot of hype surrounding them (looking at you, Fifth Wave), but Before I Fall was excellent. It's by far the best YA book I've ever read. It follows Samantha Kingston, who relives the same day over and over again following an accident. I had a few minor quibbles with the plot: I had a hard time believing that a snobby teenager could come that far in a few days, but overall it is very well done. I couldn't put it down.
I'm currently reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I think it was a mistake to read this and Before I Fall at the same time. Compared to Before I Fall, Anna and the French Kiss seems overly fluffy and insignificant. I have about 100 pages to go and I'm getting tired of the, "OMG, I loooooove him" storyline. That's really about all the substance there is to this book, unfortunately.
I'm also reading Sutton by J.R. Moehringer for my book club. It's about a bank robber who is released from prison after many years. I'm not very far into it yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Whatcha reading?

I'm currently reading "Letter from Peking" by Pearl S. Buck, and "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry. My current audio book is "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler. I've finished 22 books so far this year.

If you haven't already, I encourage you to visit Goodreads. It's a great website to help you keep track of what you have read, and lets you rate each book. I find it very helpful in many ways, least of which is encouraging me to read more! You can also join book groups and connect with people you know to see what they are reading. Have fun!