“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”
― Jane Smiley, Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel

What draws us to read (or not read) certain books. The covers used to entice me at times, but more times than not they turned me away.  I like a man's body as much as the next gal, but a half naked, heavily muscled, long haired guy with sweat glistening off of those many muscles, does not scream great storyline.  Does the New York Times top ten make up my library? I must confess, I generally read very few of those that appear on that list.  They don't seem to find those lesser known authors who capture me on page one. I have my favorite reviewers, of course, and that is generally a good starting point for me, but I realized recently that Amazon's samples help me more than anything else.  I can read as many first chapters as I want, and I get to decide, cost free, which books capture my fancy. It is not surprising that Amazon was able, over a few years time, to single handedly change the way we purchase books. I do understand the publishers' frustration, but Amazon's ability to cater to the consumer has changed the world of book buying forever.

Can you imagine what our great grandparents would have thought if they had a peek at the world of Amazon and Apple.  Would they have traded their lives of hand washing clothes and daily milk deliveries for washing machines and supermarkets?  At first thought one would think they would have jumped at the chance, but on further reflection I am not so sure.  In those days families spent evenings reading together and eventually gathered around the radio, rather than either "out" for the night or huddled around individual computers in individual rooms.  I do realize that without convenience food moms spent much longer cooking a meal, but families gathered together around that meal every night.
Even better, in those days Michael would have lived seven or eight blocks from me, not seven or eight states away.  Hmmm...I guess I am just missing my boy today, because even with all that "togetherness" I know that those days were far from ideal.  After all, people had so much less access to books.

Access to books, after all, is what it is all about to those of us who would rather read than eat, and access to books is exactly what Apple and Amazon amped up for us all.  So when you start getting the feeling that they have become too powerful or too pushy, just remember that thanks to them, a library of books is just a click away. Which reminds me, Lisa Jackson's newest book, Close to Home, comes out today.  I think I will go click away and start reading.

Happy reading,


- Beverly

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Genre: Autobiography

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When I was growing up, the name Rockefeller was synonymous with wealth.  If I asked for an expensive gift of some kind, my parents would often responded like most parents of the time..."do you think we are the Rockefellers."  We all knew what that meant and walked away dreaming of life as "the Rockefellers."  When I saw this autobiography, I was excited to find out what that life really entailed.  What I learned was that as the world was envying the Rockefellers, many of them were trying to live a "normal" life.

Eileen writes about her great-grandfather, John D. Rockefeller, and how he left school so he could make money to help the family.  His first job was as an assistant book keeper, and he worked for several months for no salary to prove himself.  When they finally started paying him, he kept meticulous ledgers showing where every penny he made went.  It was interesting to see that he was a charitable man, even when he had no money.  At one point, in those early days, he gave money to a black man in Cincinnati so he could buy his wife out of slavery.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of the little anecdotes that this book offered.  It gave me a little glimpse into the life we all envied years ago.

As an adult I realized that with wealth often comes anxiety and more responsibility than many can handle.  Eileen talks about being chauffeured to school along with her siblings and being embarrassed enough to jump out of the car blocks away from the school.  She wanted to enter like everyone else.  Her mother tried to teach them not to stand out...not an easy feat if you were a Rockefeller.  Her mother went through bouts of depression, her dad worked constantly and sibling rivalry added to her stresses. She ended up seeing many therapists through her years, and I believe this book helps show that everyone faces his or her own demons in life, and money is far from a guarantee that life will be easy.

Eileen married a wonderful man though, and tried to raise her children with the love and attention she lacked.  I found myself liking Eileen Rockefeller and rooting for her as I read.  If you enjoy biographies and ever wondered what life would be like after winning the lottery, this book is one you might enjoy.  It certainly put some things in perspective for me.

 - Beverly


Publisher - Blue Rider Press
Date of Publication - September 12, 2013

Genre: Mystery

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Sandra Brown is one of my guilty pleasures.  It doesn't seem that her books would hold my interest, yet they always do.  She does write romance novels (not my genre) but fills them with enough mystery and suspense to keep me turning pages when I should be doing something else.  Her characters are usually vital and interesting with strong women often serving as protagonists.

Mean Streak introduces us to Dr. Emory Charbonneau, pediatrician, marathon runner and discontented wife.  Emory is a typically strong character who disappears on a North Carolina mountain road while training for a marathon. Her husband, Jeff, takes a bit too long to report her missing, and nasty weather makes finding her impossible.

Emory is alive and suffering from blunt head trauma.  Was it from a fall or something else? When she regains consciousness she is seemingly being held captive by a man with a violent past.  Before she can escape they meet up with people who might prove more dangerous.

The police suspect Jeff, and the reader has no idea who to suspect from page to page. There are a number of twists and turns in this book, and as in all of Ms. Brown's books, the reader finds himself/herself trying to figure out clues that keep changing until the very end of this well written book.  In her writing, Sandra Brown has figured out how to mix romance with excitement in the best possible way, and I definitely recommend this for those who want one more great "summer read" before the new season changes our moods.

- Beverly


Publisher - Grand Central Publishing
Date of Publication - August 19, 2014

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

What a week!  It is difficult to believe that less than two months ago Arthur and I discussed the possibility of moving, and today we sit in our temporary home, most of our things in storage and talking about our new house to come. I guess life, like books, needs a bit of excitement to make it perfect.

Actually, excitement is all around us this time of year.  School is starting in many areas of the country, and malls are filled with back to school shoppers.  How sad that we can no longer find a bookstore in our malls.  I used to love browsing through the various mall bookstores (usually two to a mall) during those school shopping trips.  I would bribe my kids (both readers) with a book if they behaved while shopping for their school wardrobes. Alas, times have changed, and kids are so busy looking at their iPhones, iPads, and various electronics while walking the mall, that they wouldn't notice a bookstore unless it advertised free apps.

It is not that these electronic devices don't have their place.  I have, and love, one of each.  It is just that they often take the place of human (face to face) interaction.  We used to love getting dressed up and going out to dinner with Mike and Beth.  We would talk about each of our days, our favorite T.V. shows and the books we were reading.  I would find out so much about my children during those relaxed outings.  Now I see each child (literally from a year old through teen years) holding a device and watching movies, texting, reading email, and barely looking up from the device long enough to order their meals.  Unfortunately, in many cases, this means no time for reading unless it is assigned by the teacher.

As a teacher, I can guarantee parents that a child that only reads "assigned" books will never develop the love of reading that those who read my blog have.  That love comes from our childhood exploration of books we read for the pure joy of reading. Children need to read a book without answering study questions and being tested on the author's meaning.  Children who say that they don't like to read have just not found the right books yet.  As adults, we need to take away the electronics for a bit of time each day and talk to our children.  We can guide them towards that perfect book that will capture their imaginations and make books a joy to them. In today's tough world, our children need all the joy they can get.

Unfortunately, my insane moving schedule left little time for reading this week.  I am sorry to say that I can add no new reviews until next week but am happy to add two guest reviews if you check out that page.  Hopefully, I will be back in action next week and relaxing with a good book is the perfect way to start.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

"When you read, don't just consider what the author thinks, consider what you think."
-Robin Williams (Dead Poet's Society)

Robin Williams' characters spent their words wisely.  Mr. Williams knew how to choose roles that taught us lessons through dialogue that was written for him, but spoken through the voice of a man who believed them. One only has to look at the outpouring of love and grief to know how many lives he affected.  Perhaps in the silence of death he can teach us the lessons of mental illness.  Not until we accept it as an illness and stand supportingly by those who are stricken, will a cure be found...a life be saved.

One of his strongest roles was that of a teacher trying to form young minds.  In "Dead Poet's Society", Mr. Williams played a teacher who dealt with things that teachers deal with every day.  His character faced the horror of helping students through the suicide of a promising young man around the same time I had to face the same thing in my classroom.  Ironically he did a masterful job helping others through fiction, but mental illness robbed him of the ability to save himself.

N.H. Kleinbaum turned the screenplay into a novel that captured the words of the movie beautifully. I definitely recommend seeing the movie first (quite a testament to the only actor who has EVER made me say that) but adding the book to your library after the fact may not be a bad idea.

I am going to end today's blog with several quotes from the movie.  Though the character of Keating said them, it was Robin Williams who made us believe them.

John Keating (as played by Robin Williams) :

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.  And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer: that you are here; that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

There's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.

Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.
They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Don't be resigned to that. Break out! break out now is the time!

- Beverly

Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog:

Genre: Biography

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As a baby boomer, I realized two things right away:
1. Music will always be a major part of our lives
2. Bob Dylan will always be a major part of music

Teens of the sixties and seventies believed in the words of their musical heroes.  They sang our heartaches, our victories, our romances...they sang our lives.  They took us through the horrors of war and the drug and sexual revolutions.   The singer/songwriter who did it best of all was a young man named Robert Zimmerman, who left his hometown of Hibbing  Minnesota and his name behind. He became Bob Dylan, and even those who couldn't get past his scratchy voice understood that he spoke the words of a generation. He wrote for most of the big (and many lesser known ) singers during his career, and his fans could never get enough.

There have been many books written about Dylan, but what makes this one fun is that the focus is on his fans...the Dylanologists.  His cult-like following knows more about him than he probably remembers about himself.  He is a private man and wishes they would all disappear, but they won't.  They hunt for lost tapes and lost manuscripts, and they obsess over the facts of his life and career.  The reader gets to read about Dylan through the eyes of many of these fans.  We get to see how he and his music changed their lives.

If you want a straight biography of Bob Dylan, this is not the way to go, but if you want to laugh, maybe cry and surely feel something, I think this is a book for you.

 - Beverly


Publisher - Simon & Schuster
Date of Publication - May 13, 2014

Genre: Legal Thriller

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I anxiously await the summer book releases, because I know that I will be spending time with Andy Carpenter.  Rosenfelt's characters never fail to make me chuckle.  Andy has my sarcastic sense of humor, and his interactions with a host of coworkers, friends, bad guys and animals are hilarious.  Hounded starts with a call from his cop buddy, Pete, with a request for Andy and his investigator/lady love, Laurie, to meet him at an unknown address.  Things heat up when Pete shows them a body and asks them to please take home the dead man's dog (a usual occurrence for Andy) and young son (not so usual) who was there when his father was murdered. Before Andy can turn him down, Pete is arrested for the murder of the child's father, ex-convict Danny Diza, who had been working as an informant for the police.

The story-lines in Rosenfelt's books are not what keeps the reader involved.  Please know, they are good...but not as good as his ability to build a character.  Each person becomes so familiar, that the reader starts to miss them all when the book comes to an end. Whether it is Edna, the game playing non working secretary; Willy, the wrongly convicted man who Andy freed from death row; Hike, his cynical, depressive partner or Laurie, the woman who helps keep him sane (to name a few ), they all feel genuine and ready to join the reader for dinner.  Andy's relationship with dogs is also a big part of his stories, and his dog, Tara, has to be the smartest character in the book.

Rosenfelt's  plots often seem familiar.  His investigative methods and his trial experiences are the same from book to book, but his fans never seem to mind.  Why fool around with a sure thing!  Sometimes there seems to be a few too many characters, but then again, there are that many more to love.  Honestly, even the negative aspects of this series turn out to be positives.

Do yourself a favor and take the time to meet Andy and the crew.  I promise they will put a smile on your face.

- Beverly


Publisher - Minotaur Books
Date of Publication - July 22, 2014

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
― Oscar Wild

Sometimes we stumble upon books that affect us in ways we don't even notice.  In looking back, I have to say that Up The Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman did that for me.  Ms. Kaufman died last month at the age of 103.  More amazing is the fact that she was still teaching (a course on Jewish humor at Hunter College) when she was 100.  She began her teaching career in the urban schools of New York City, and her experiences there were captured in her book.  When I was hired to teach English in an urban high school many years later, my principal explained that the classes he could offer me (it was October...school had been in session for about six weeks) were filled with students who had already caused eight teachers to walk out. He worried that someone of "my size" would be overwhelmed. I remember thinking that if Sylvia Barrett could survive in Kaufman's novel, and Mr. Kotter could keep his "sweathogs" in line in television's "Welcome Back Kotter", then I could do it too. I thought about both of them many times that first year and realized I wasn't alone. Even though I often felt I was fighting my way up that down staircase, I realized many strong teachers were fighting with me, and our students desperately needed us to fight the good fight.  So thank you Bel Kaufman, and wherever you are now, may all of your staircases be easy to travel.

Ah traveling...our bags (and many boxes) are almost all packed for our trip to my sister's house and our year in limbo. This all happened so fast that it hardly seems real. One day we talked about the possibility of moving, and two weeks later we were signing a contract and selling our house.  My motto...always keep life interesting. Luckily, Arthur is a great and willing partner in all of the journeys that have made my life so wonderful.

It has been difficult keeping up with my reading this week.  In fact, I am only adding one review in my section. It is a whopper though. Beethoven has always been a musical hero of mine, and I decided to try to plow through the 1000+ pages of Swafford's biography of him.  While I am not finding it a particularly easy read, it is so interesting that I believe it is well worth the time I am putting into it.  There is another review I would like you all to read under guest reviews.  Kathy, one of our great reviewers, reviewed the book Between, the first published novel of Amy Riddle-DeClerck, another of our top reviewers. I know that this is a labor of love for Amy, and I will be reading it very soon.
  
In fact, I think it is time for me to sign off and read for a bit right now...packing can wait!

Happy reading

Beverly

Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog:

Genre: Biography

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I will not generally pick up a book that is over a thousand pages.  I find myself intimidated before I even begin.  In all honesty, it might take me a month to actually finish this book, but I didn't want my "fear of commitment" to keep you from discovering a well written biography about an amazing musician.  Jan Swafford, a music historian, helps the reader see his subjects as real human beings instead of vague historical figures. Beethoven has become more of an icon than a person, and his music has became part of our every day life. Swafford wants this to be "a biography of Beethoven the man and musician, not the myth."
 
He does a great job adding many non musical details of the life of this great talent. Beethoven's health was compromised with lead poisoning and various digestive issues, his emotions were touched by romantic rejection, and his deafness made life that much more difficult to get through. His relationships with others were difficult, and his economic problems sometimes poorly handled. The author spends time showing us all of this humanity.
 
I am also enjoying the musical analyses of his works.  It isn't always easy to keep everything straight, but it is worth trying.  Although this is not a "summer read" easy fiction book, it is well written and helps define a musical genius.  I say "go for it!"

- Beverly


Publisher - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date of Publication - August 5, 2014

"Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”
― John Locke

Those of you as addicted to their ebook readers as I am are probably aware of the disagreement going on between Hachette books and Amazon.  I remember when Apple was first coming out with iPads, and suddenly ebook prices were skyrocketing. My significant other was significantly annoyed.  He kept yelling "COLLUSION" and forecasting a lawsuit to come.  He was right, of course, and reminds me of that fact...often.  Amazon wanted to keep prices at 9.99 or lower, and publishers wanted to raise them significantly.  Several of the publishers ultimately settled, and I am happily spending my portion of the settlement on new ebooks. Hachette and Amazon just can't seem to come to terms though, and this is hurting us all.  I try to read all sides of the debates, but the numbers seem to tell the story. Amazon came up with the following figures: " For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99. So, for example, if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99. Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000. Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000."   Math has never been my strong suit, but these numbers seem to favor lower prices.

I do understand publisher's fears that electronic devices will ultimately make books obsolete, but I disagree.  No matter what form a book takes, it is still a wonderful journey into another world, and we readers will never let those precious reading times disappear.  We can't stop the growth of technology though, and we really don't want to, so let's just accept it and move on.

Speaking of moving on, aghhhhhhhhh!  Next time I decide to go for the adventure of moving, someone convince me to try an easier adventure...like bungee jumping over a pit of Florida gators.  At least that is quick, and I will know the possible pitfalls in advance. I have been writing my reviews, etc., for the last two hours, and the sun is just beginning to come up now. I can't seem to sleep anymore, which is a good thing for MADDERLY REVIEW, because my normal writing hours are now being taken up by stressing and packing. Four A.M. Seems to be the only time I can get creative.  Even finding time to read is difficult.  You will notice I have chosen two lighter books to read and review this week.  They were actually quite good and took my mind away from stressing for brief periods of time.  

Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Happy reading.

- Beverly