Review: The Girl She Left Behind - Karen Brichoux

The Girl She Left Behind - Karen Brichoux

Paperback, 256 pages

Published July 5, 2005 - NAL Trade
Purchased at Border's

From the author of Coffee and Kung Fu and Separation Anxiety comes a refreshingly insightful new novel that asks: Can you find a home in a place where you never really belonged?

No one knows why Katherine Earle has come back to Silver Creek, Montana - not even Kat herself.  At eighteen, she ran away with her boyfriend and got married in the big city, but after spending three years alone and on the road, she's finally come home.  Well, not home, exactly, because she's renting a motel room and trying to avoid all chance encounters with people who might recognize her.  But when she's pulled back into ancient family intrigues, she must choose between the woman she's become and the girl she left behind.

My Review:
I thought this was a really sweet little story, that had the feel-good effect.  I didn't really know what to expect, as I had not heard of Karen Brichoux before, but I was pleased.  I will be checking out Coffee & Kung Fu as well!
Kat left Silver Creek when she was 18 in the middle of the night with her boyfriend.  She spent time with him in California after they got married, but then left him and hit the road by herself.  She traveled with her cat, Miss Kitty for three years before returning to Silver Creek.
I think that this story was able to really show that home is truly where the heart is.  Even though she was raised in Silver Creek, coming back wasn't all that she hoped/thought it would be.
I would recommend this as a light, feel-good read.

My Rating:
Overall: 4
Characters: 4
Plot: 3
Writing Style: 4

About Karen Brichoux
(From Karen's website)
"The daughter of American missionaries, I was born and raised in Southeast Asia.  Most of my childhood was spent reading or forcing the long-suffering family pets to act out the plots of books I'd recently read.

In college, everything was interesting to me, and I could never answer the question "What do you want to be?" without a measure of sarcasm over the idea that "being" something was somehow equated with "doing" something.  Still, guidance tests had revealed a natural predilection for verbal and mechanical skills, which had caused my high school counselor to suggest English or literature or, if that didn't interest me, perhaps becoming a car mechanic.  Oddly, no one suggested mechanical engineering, probably because I had managed to fail Algebra the first time I took it.

After stints as a secondary education major, a theater major, and a humanities major, I graduated with a degree in English literature.  Still interested in everything, I went on to graduate school for an MA in European history, where I focused on social, political, and religious history of twelfth and thirteenth century France.

While working toward a PhD in European history with a concentration in nineteenth-century social/political history combined with political, labor, and feminist theory, I began the painful process of re-examining what really interested me (beyond "everything").  I had been writing stories all my life, but I'd always pictured authors as reclusive, frightened, bitter people.  Realizing that the description also applied to PhD students, I abandoned my prejudice against being an author and wrote my first book.  I naively assumed that awards and editor requests meant I was going to be published by tomorrow or, at worst, the day after.  I left graduate school and began writing full time, even when it became obvious I was not going to be a published author tomorrow or even next week.  Three years later, Coffee & Kung Fu was published by Penguin Press.

Writing is, in many ways, a reversion to childhood.  I still spend most of my time reading and living in the world of my imagination, but the family pets are happy to report that I no longer enlist their services in acting out plots.

Happy Reading!

Review: Snuff - Chuck Palahniuk

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Review: A Walk To Remember - Nicholas Sparks

A Walk To Remember - Nicholas Sparks

Paperback, 224 pages

Published September 1, 2004 - Warner Books

In the prologue to his latest novel, Nicholas Sparks make the rather presumptuous pledge "first you will smile, and then you will cry," but sure enough he delivers the goods.  With his calculated ability to throw your heart around like a yo-yo (try out his earlier Message in the Bottle or The Notebook if you really want to stick it to yourself), Sparks pulls us back to the perfect innocence of a first love.

In 1958 Landon Carter is a shallow but well-meaning teenager who spends most of his time hanging out with his friends and trying hard to ignore the impending responsibilities of adulthood.  Then Landon gets roped into acting the lead in the Christmas play opposite the most renowned goody two-shoes in town: Jamie Sullivan.  Against his best intentions and the taunts of his buddies, Landon finds himself falling for Jamie and learning some central lessons in life.

Like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, Sparks maintains a delicate and rarely seen balance of humor and sentiment.  While the plot may not be the most original, this boy-makes-good tearjerker will certainly reel in the fans.  Look for a movie starring beautiful people, or better yet, snuggle under the covers with your tissues nearby and let your inner sap run wild.
                                                                            - Nancy R.E. O'Brien

My Review:
Wow.  Nicholas Sparks is a fantastic author that knows exactly how to tug on your heartstrings.  He was also dead on when he said that at first you will smile and then you will cry.  The first half of the book my heart was so warm and happy, and by the end I was balling like a baby.
Landon is taught a lot from Jamie, in a short amount of time, and you can see him grow as a person.  He started out being one of the many kids in school that made fun of Jamie (she was the minister's daughter, she volunteered at the orphanage, and was extremely nice to everyone), to someone who realized what a good person Jamie was, and how she could make him a better person.
I saw the movie, years ago and thought I knew what I was getting into when I started this book.  I was so wrong!  The book and the movie are nothing alike -- while both are good and have their own redeeming qualities, they are completely different.  Honestly, the only similarity is that the characters names are the same, and the situation they find themselves in is the same, but nothing else.
I loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone for a quick, sappy, sweet, sad read.

My Ratings:
Overall: 5
Characters: 5
Plot: 5
Writing Style: 5

About Nicholas Sparks
As a child, he lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California, at the age of 8.  His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant.  He live in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.
After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman, he was injured and spent the summer recovering.  During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published.  He majored in Business Finance and graduated with honors in '88.
He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in 1988, were married in July, 1989.  While living in Sacramento, he wrote his second novel that same year, though again, it wasn't published.  He worked a variety of jobs over the next three years, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and started his own small manufacturing business which struggled from the beginning.  In 1990, he collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing before later being picked up by Random House.
He began selling pharmaceuticals and moved from Sacramento to North California in 1992.  In '94 at the age of 28, he wrote The Notebook over a period of 6 months.
Sparks now lives in North Carolina with his wife and five children: Miles, Ryan, Landon, Lexie and Savannah.

Happy Reading!

Review: Adios, Nirvana - Conrad Wesselhoeft

Adios, Nirvana - Conrad Wesselhoeft

Electronic Version

Received from NetGalley

When you piss off a bridge into a snowstorm, it feels like you're connecting with eternal things.  Paying homage to something or someone.  But who?  The Druids?  Walt Whitman?  No, I pay homage to one person only, my brother, my twin.

In life.  In death.

Telemachus.

Since the death of his brother, Johnathan's been losing his grip on reality.  Last year's Best Young Poet and gifted guitarist is now Taft High School's resident tortured artist, when he bothers to show up.  He's on track to repeat eleventh grade, but his English teacher, his principal, and his crew of Thicks (who refuse to be seniors without him) won't sit back and let him fail.

My Review:
This was not one of my favorite reads, however it wasn't bad.  I really think that the target audience for this was young boys.  I just couldn't relate to the main character, and the story seemed to drag on longer than necessary.  I honestly thought this was going to be a book that I couldn't finish, but I was somewhat intrigued to see how it all ended up.
I did think that there were some good parts.  It was very interesting to hear the story that he was required to write about the dying World War II vet. Johnathan's mother was probably my favorite character because she was so wacky.

My Ratings:
Overall: 3
Plot: 3
Characters: 3
Writing Style: 3

About Conrad Wesselhoeft
Conrad Wesselhoeft lives with his three children and a big, grinning poodle named Django, in West Seattle. "Much of Adios, Nirvana," he writes, "was inspired by my son, Kit, and his many friends, who tromp through my kitchen, jam on guitars, and leave behind a trail of laughter, crumbs, and ketchup stains."

Happy Reading!

Out With A Bang Mini Challenge/Giveaway 2

Okay, are you ready for the second mini challenge? For this one I will be giving away sweet swag from the hosts, The Bookish Type and Book-Savvy, as well as a copy of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

Another one of my favorite reads from 2010 was The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

When we first meet 14 year old Susie Salmon, she is already in Heaven.  This is before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen.  In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself.  It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets.  With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief, her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor and begin in the difficult process of healing.  In the hands of a brilliant novelist, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful and touching story about family, memory, love, heaven and living.

The Challenge:
 If you could pick one book that you read in 2010 and turn it into a movie, which book would that be?  Who would play the main characters?


Giveaway Rules & Entry:

• You must be a participant in the Out With A Bang Readathon - Click to Sign Up
• Answer the above question in my comments section.  Please include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.
• To be eligible you must live in the US
• All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on 12/31/10.
• I will use Random.org to select a winner.

Happy Reading & Good Luck!

Out With A Bang Mini Challenge/Giveaway

Well hello fellow read-a-thon-ers.  I hope you are enjoying the Out With A Bang Readathon as much as I am!  I've got some great swag to give away as well as two of my favorite books read this year.

Mini Challenge

I will be giving away a copy of Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson, as well as some fantastic swag from the hosts of this readathon, The Bookish Type and Book-Savvy.  

As a little girl, Jane has no one.  Her mother Viviene Margaux, the powerful head of a major New York theater company has no time for her.  But she does have one friend -- Michael -- and no one can see him but her.  But Michael can't stay with Jane forever, and on her eighth birthday, her imaginary friend must leave her.  When Jane is in her thirties, working for her mother's company, she is just as alone as she was as a child.  Her boyfriend hardly knows she's there and is more interested in what Viviene can do for his career.  Her mother practically treats her as a slave in the office, despite the great success of Jane's first play, "Thank Heaven".  Then she finds Michael - handsome and just the same as she remembers him, only now he's not imaginary.  For once in her life, Jane is happy -- and has someone who loves her back.  But not even Michael knows the reason behind why they've really been reunited.  

The Challenge:
The entire time I read this book I felt like I had one song just running on a continuous loop.  What book did you read in 2010 that you would consider your favorite?  If you could only use one song to describe this book, what would it be?

Giveaway Rules & Entry:

• You must be a participant in the Out With A Bang Readathon - Click to Sign Up
• Answer the above question in my comments section.  Please include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.
• To be eligible you must live in the US
• All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on 12/31/10.
• I will use Random.org to select a winner.

Happy Reading & Good Luck!

Out With A Bang Readathon Update

So the readathon started yesterday, and I was stuck at work all day -- I didn't have a lot of time during the day to read, and we had plans last night with some friends.  

I started A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks last night, and finished it earlier this morning.  I had a lot of errands that I had to get done today, so now that I'm officially done with them, I'm on to book number two.  

Today I stopped by my local Borders store.  I received an email that they were closing and there was now 75% off almost everything.  Of course, I've said many times in the last few months that I need to stop spending so much money on books, but 75% off---who could resist?  I scoured the entire store and got some great finds!  14 books for $15!! I know, I felt like I was in heaven.  Here's what I got:

Pretty awesome huh?  So I'm pretty sure you can tell that I think my list from yesterday is going to be tweaked a little for the readathon...but that's okay.  

Anyway, don't forget to stop by The Bookish Type and Book Savvy's blogs to see who's hosting mini challenges today!  I'll be holding mine tomorrow so get ready!  (Don't forget -- in order to participate in the mini challenges you must sign up to be a part of the readathon.  You can do that on either The Bookish Type's blog or Book Savvy's blog, so head over there now and join the fun!)

Happy Reading!