Hungry Girl To the Max! The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook by Lisa Lillien

While my husband was away for two weeks last month, I pulled out my new Hungry Girl cookbook and made all my dinners from it.  I like to cook while the husband’s away – it sounds selfish but I can explain only by saying I don’t mind eating my own experiments, but I do mind if he has to.  I’m not much of a cook.

I recommend Hungry Girl to a lot of people. Hungry Girl is about making the foods you love “guilt-free” meaning lighter in fat, lower in calories, higher in fiber.  She’s not aiming for high cuisine, she’s trying to replace your fatty takeout (pizza, burgers, etc) with something you can make better and easier at home.  I get lots of tips and strategies from her, which has helped me keep my weight down the last couple of years. It helps that I’m blessed with not-very-discerning taste buds, which means an egg-white omelet tastes just as good to me as regular eggs;  my husband on the other hand, notices the difference immediately.

If you’re trying to eat lighter, there are basically two ways you can go.  For example, if you want a piece of chocolate, you either want a small piece of the best chocolate you can possibly have — or, that teensy piece of chocolate won’t do it for you, you’d rather have a substantial amount of something chocolatey but better for you (like chocolate pudding or yogurt or hot chocolate).  If you’re in the second camp, HG is for you.

Hungry Girl is aimed at the person who loves to eat, but wants to eat better.  If you’re not willing to give up guacamole for example, she’ll show you how to make half of it with mashed peas and it tastes nearly as good.  Not willing to give up fries with your burger?  Make butternut squash fries instead.  She’s good at bulking things up with veggies so you eat more and eat better, and that works for me.

Another great thing about Hungry Girl is that she talks about products.  Every maker of “healthy” or “light” products sends her samples and she’ll tell you (honestly, I think) which ones she likes best.  I’ve discovered a ton of great “diet” foods from her (Popchips, VitaMuffins), although a few have been misses (Holey Donuts).  She’ll also tell you when it’s better to use a small amount of something real instead of fat-free.

But this is a book review, so back to her cookbook.  I will say this: Lillien is great for meal ideas, tips and strategies for lightening things up, and quick and easy meals you sort of already know (like stir-fries).  Her actual recipes can be a little hit or miss.

During my two week run, these were some of the hits:

• Smothered Veggie Burritos – you may not need a recipe for this, it’s basically chopped veggies sautéed in garlic, refried beans seasoned with cumin and chili, enchilada sauce, high-fiber tortillas and reduced-fat shredded cheese.  Easy but awesome.
• Hot & Hungry Szechuan Shrimp – again, you might not need a recipe to make a shrimp stir fry but it helps me to have one.  Lots of veggies, shrimp, and a sauce made of Siracha, soy, ketchup, cornstarch and a little sugar.  Yum.
• Veggie-loaded Cashew Chicken – basic stir fry but full of good ingredients, and lots of flavor.  With HG it’s a good idea to add extra spice – she’s aiming her recipes at the masses but I like more heat.

And the misses:

• Asian Style Honey BBQ Chicken – okay, but the chicken got a little overdone and it wasn’t as spicy as I like.
• Cool & Crunchy Salmon Tacos – this was basically salmon salad in a taco shell.  It tasted as weird as it sounds.  Plus my cats went so crazy I just can’t eat salmon in front of them, much as I’d like to.  So definitely not guilt-free.
• Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese – I’m on a huge buffalo chicken kick, so this sounded amazing but came out really weird.  Maybe I did something wrong.  I made 4 servings of it so it stayed around a while (I throw away nothing).  My everything’s-better-with-buffalo-sauce philosophy took a beating with this dish.

This book also has tons of breakfast recipes – two of her “specialties” are the Growing Oatmeal Bowl and the Egg Mug.  There’s also a huge dessert section – Hungry Girl assumes you have a sweet tooth like me.  One of my favorite breakfasts/desserts is the Caramel Apple Parfait, which is basically chopped apple, light caramel dip, peanuts, and fat-free vanilla yogurt.

Personality-wise, HG is a little “perky” for me.  My husband took one look at this cookbook and said “it’s awfully pink”.  Girly is not my thing, but if Lillien is girly at least she’s a girl who likes to EAT.

I know this is way out of my zone of expertise… but those of you who love to read may also love spending LESS time in the kitchen, and HG is really good for that.  It’s a weird thing that I don’t like to cook but I love buying cookbooks.  If you’re not a cookbook junkie, check out her website.  Enjoy!

Review of The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle

The Tortilla Curtain might not be my favorite T.C. Boyle, but like his others it poses interesting issues, great writing that blends emotion and sarcasm, and even though it was written in 1995 every issue it raises is meaningful today.

Curtain takes place in Los Angeles’ Topanga Canyon.  It’s a story of contrasts, between an upper-middle class white family and two recently-arrived illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Delaney Mossbacher is a liberal white guy who lives in a nice home in Topanga Canyon with his wife Kyra and her son Jordan, their two dogs Sacheverell and Osbert and cat Dame Edith.  Delaney has his dream job, writing a daily column on environmental issues in the Canyon.  Kyra is a workaholic real estate agent but also a semi-obsessive parent who worries about what her kid eats and whether he’s safe.  She’s a little bit of a caricature but one we can recognize and relate to.

Boyle sucks you into this book with a startling event.  Delaney, on a perfectly ordinary day, is driving through the Canyon when he hits someone with his car.  It’s not his fault, the guy jumped into the road.  What should he do?  He’s heard about people who jump in front of your car so you get out and they steal your car and your wallet.  But he gets out anyway and looks for the guy.  What if he needs help?

After searching around the Canyon he finds Candido, who’s badly injured but speaks no English.  In broken Spanish Delaney says he’ll call a doctor, but Candido, being illegal, shakes his head no.  He says one word, “money?”, and Delaney, not knowing what to do, gives him a $20.

So what would you do?  If you call the police, Candido gets medical care and a ride back to Mexico, which isn’t what he wants.  If you say nothing, you just gave a guy $20 bucks after you hit him with your car.  Delaney does the latter, takes his car to the dealership and says he hit an animal.  He’s deeply troubled by the incident but even more troubled by what he’s seen in the Canyon – illegal immigrants camping out, leaving trash, running into traffic.  He’s torn between caring about their plight, and resenting their intrusion and damage to his beloved environment.

Where Boyle excels in this book is in creating a vivid contrast between the lives of the upper middle class and the lives of the very poor.

I always appreciate a book that reminds me that I have no idea what it’s like to be desperately poor; and that in this country, we think it’s easy to move up, but everything fights against you when you have nothing.  Candido and wife America have no papers so any money they earn is cash that can be easily stolen.  They have no home, so they are vulnerable to the rain and cold.  They rely on their ability to work, yet they have no health care, no sick days, no healthy food.  They rely on a day labor system designed to underpay them (they’ll take anything) and mistreat them (they have no legal rights).  Plus there’s no guarantee they can even find work from day to day.

When you drive past that corner with guys lined up for day labor, are you uncomfortable?  Why?  Is it knowing these guys might be illegal?  Or knowing they’re being taken advantage of economically?  Or is it just – let’s be honest here – not being comfortable with a large group of Mexican guys standing around on a street corner in our neighborhood.

Another interesting thing Boyle does is introduce two other Mexican characters who are genuinely scary.  Delaney and Kyra, who start out being fairly sympathetic of the immigrants in general, have some encounters with these two characters that end up shaping their views of other Mexicans.  Which of course is unfair to Candido and America, but can we honestly say we aren’t inclined to do that?

The other contrast which I really appreciated is between the issue of environmentalism and human or immigrant rights.  I like to think I’m an environmentalist but I also like to think I put the needs of human beings before those of animals or local plantlife.  On the other hand, sometimes environmental issues are a lot more global than issues facing a single family.  Boyle seems frustrated with environmentalists who don’t care for the actual lives of human beings, but he portrays this as the delicate balance I think it is.

I found Delaney very sympathetic, and my problem with this book was that Delaney goes off the rails a bit and becomes a whole lot less sympathetic, which makes the book a lot less complex.  The way Boyle sets it up, no one’s a hero or a villain.  Delaney isn’t racist, he’s just trying to weigh environmental concerns, the needs of his family, and what he thinks is right.  I also completely get Delaney’s frustration with living in a gated community where everyone wants to keep the outsiders out – but at the same time he has to make the safety of his family his top priority.

Kyra as a character isn’t nearly as sympathetic nor is she a monster.  But the parts of the story told from her point of view seemed to lack depth.  She needed to be more fleshed out or not used as a main character.  Similarly, Boyle’s portrayal of Candido and America seemed a bit too extreme at times.  But I’m not sure I can really say that given their circumstances.

All in all, this book left a lasting impression as do most of Boyle’s books.

New Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2013

While I’m working on a few reviews, I wanted to post this awesome link to all the best 2013 science fiction and fantasy novels coming out in 2013.

My husband sent me this link, and the first thing that struck me about this list was how many of my favorite authors AND my husband’s favorite authors are included. And we don’t share much in our reading tastes.   Mine: Diana Gabaldon, Kate Atkinson, Stephen King, Gail Carriger, Neil Gaiman, Paulo Bacigalupi, Terry Pratchett, and Brandon Sanderson.  His: Charles Stross, Peter Hamilton, James A. Corey.  We both like Robert Sawyer, John Scalzi, and J.R.R. Tolkien (yes, new Tolkien coming out!).

But what really struck me about the list is how gender-neutral most of it seems.  My husband reads really “male” science fiction (he calls it “hard” science fiction, tee hee).  I like science fiction that’s more plot, less science, like Ray Bradbury or the recent anthology I read, Diverse Energies.  I’m struggling with the term “gender-neutral”, which seems a horribly dry way to discuss books, but what I mean are books that aren’t girly and not screamingly-male.

For example: urban fantasy or steampunk usually = girly.

Space opera = only guys are reading this stuff.

But look at most of the books on the list and you tell me where the categories fall.  You can’t.  Sure, I’m judging mainly by the covers, but let’s face it, science fiction and fantasy covers are usually about as gender-specific as you get in the world of fiction.  And even though I hardly read books with physical covers any more, covers still determine who buys what book.

For a collection of science fiction and fantasy to look this varied says a lot about the changing world of science fiction and fantasy.  I see boundaries being mixed, borders being crossed.  I’m happy to see writers like Stephen King and Diana Gabaldon being included in science fiction and fantasy rather than segregated in the back of the store as horror and romance.  I see new ideas about what is science fiction and fantasy, and women writers emerging as more equal in the field.

Granted, I’m seeing a lot from just a list.  And I’m sure there’s room for criticism: too many series books?  Too much YA?  Too many white authors? What do you think?

Amidst all the greatness on this list, there are also tons of authors I’ve never heard of and can’t wait to try out. So thanks to the husband not only for a fantastic reading list but for turning me on to io9, a really cool website (and while you’re there, you have to check out this awesomeness).

An Interview with C.H. Zhu, author of Descent

Yesterday I posted a review of Descent, a compelling debut novel by C.H. Zhu.  I interviewed Zhu because I wanted to learn more about this book and how he came to write it.

What inspired you to write this story?  What parts of the story come from your own life? 

The character, Dr. Wu, first came to me when I was writing my MFA exam at University of Oregon in 2002. I have always been interested in exploring an individual’s struggle against family and social constraints. Born and raised in China, and with a rebellious streak, I have experienced such conflicts first hand. In Dr. Wu’s case, being a homosexual symbolizes an almost insurmountable obstacle for a young man who is expected to be a model son. This seed of conflict fascinated me from the very beginning. During my years in America, I have also developed great sympathy for gay people whom I know personally and for the gay community’s struggle for recognition and equality, so writing Descent has indeed been a creative and meaningful process for me.

As a first-time author, how did you go about publishing this book?

I submitted my manuscript to agents first. I did some research and chose agents who are interested in emerging authors, controversial subject matter, and/or unique characters. I received some encouraging feedback, which largely affirmed the quality of my writing and the worthiness of the theme. Instead of prolonging the agent search, I was inspired by a friend’s experiment with self-publishing and decided to give it a try. Self-publishing offers closure to a writing process that had spanned seven or eight years and allows me to move on to my next project.

You write about the class and geographic differences of Wu’s mother and father.  How does that influence Wu’s upbringing?  How do Communism and the Cultural Revolution impact this story? 

The city of Shanghai, where Dr. Wu grew up, is like a “melting pot” of people of diverse origins and backgrounds. Since the late nineteenth century, it has attracted people from all over China (and the world at times) to come and seek fame and fortune.

Wu’s mother and father are like different generations of immigrants. Wu’s father is the grandson of a successful merchant family whose sheltered “bourgeois” style upbringing was curtailed by the Communist takeover in 1949.  It is a different case for Wu’s mother, a peasant’s daughter. Her aspiration to bring up a successful son is not uncommon among the first generation of poor, provincial immigrants. Her intensity in raising her son reflects her own insecurity and eagerness to prove herself in a highly competitive, class-conscious society that often breeds snobbery and prejudice.

Post-1949 China has seen waves of political turmoil, including the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976.  These contemporary political events affected the lives of just about every family, rich or poor, urban or provincial. Communism itself, as it was practiced in China, reinforced a rigid social structure that stifled individuality and personal freedom. In Descent, Dr. Wu came of age in a society that did not encourage any self-expression but demanded conformity. Since his parents’ marriage was a hapless product of political and family circumstances, Dr. Wu’s emotional growth was also affected by the imbalance between an overbearing mother and a painfully distant father.

You contrast Wu’s family with that of his friend Dawei.  Does Wu’s relationship with his parents, and the intense pressure he feels to meet his mother’s expectations, reflect a “typical” Chinese family? 

Dr. Wu’s upbringing represents the type of Chinese family that pursue upward mobility by ensuring their children’s success through education. It has a long tradition and can also been seen among Chinese immigrants in the United States.

On the other hand, Dawei’s family represents a portion of working class families that are barely trying to survive at the bottom of a metropolis like Shanghai. Their prospects are hampered by their educational deficiencies and domestic troubles.

In reality, these two families would rarely socialize, and Dawei and Dr. Wu would hardly have anything to do with each other as they move into different social echelons. That’s why it seemed interesting to create a relationship between these boys that renders contrasts and ironic twists.

Wu struggles to accept his sexual orientation and wonders whether he would be able to live more openly in America.  Do you think greater societal acceptance would have helped Wu to be more accepting of himself?

The public attitude toward homosexuality has evolved tremendously for the last fifty years in America. In spite of ups and downs, it has become an open debate and the gay community has stepped forward to define itself and fight for its rights. I don’t think China has begun this process. In the last twenty years, China has gone from total denial of its homosexual population to accepting the existence of gay individuals, certain pop stars, for instance. There is, however, no open and genuine discussion of how to acknowledge and integrate homosexuality within family and social structures. It remains an exotic subject in movies and fiction.

Research has shown that, in China, a majority of gay men marry and have children. The ensuing marital, psychological, and social problems have started to receive attention.

Not unlike a young man growing up in a socially conservative town in the U.S., Dr. Wu’s self perception was directly impacted by the traditional prejudice against homosexuality and the lack of public discourse. As long as homosexuality is not socially acceptable, there can be many Dr. Wus who will vehemently deny their true sexual orientation. They will internalize society’s gender definitions and strive to live up to them by suppressing their true feelings.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

The novel Descent is about self vs. family and society. It is a tragedy about a person who internalizes external values and obligations while denying his true self. I believe such struggles exist for many people, regardless of ethnicity or sexual orientation.

A novel is a complex slice of life and reading a novel should be a complex experience. I hope my readers appreciate the complexity of the novel and come away feeling enriched, challenged, and encouraged to live a truthful life.

Which authors have influenced your writing the most? 

It is hard to say which authors have influenced my writing in general. But during my writing of Descent, I found myself drawn to the works of Kazuo Ishiguro, such as The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World. The narrators of these two novels share a restrained voice limited by their view of the world, but they are nevertheless strong and unforgettable voices. The suppression of the voice itself seems to have become an expressive element in the storytelling.

Bio: C. H. Zhu, born and raised in China, studied writing at New York University and the University of Oregon. Publications include stories and essays in both English and Chinese in periodicals such as Slice Magazine (Brooklyn, New York), World Journal Literary Supplement (the U.S. Edition), and Mengya Literary Monthly (Shanghai, China), among others.  Connect with the author online: email author.chzhu[at]gmail.com or visit http://facebook.com/novel.descent.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author.  The interview questions are answered in the author’s words with no editing.

How Amazon’s Addressing the Problem of Fake Book Reviews

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times ran this article about whether Amazon reviews are paid for or made up.  This is a topic I’ve been following closely in the last year because 1) I actually use the stars and reviews on Amazon, although with caution; and 2) this year I started posting my own reviews on Amazon and I’d hate to think people are out there questioning whether I’m being paid for my reviews.

The article says that Amazon went through and deleted thousands of reviews, without consulting with the reviewers or the authors of the books being reviewed.  The criterion for elimination was whether the reviewer was a family member or had a financial interest in the book.  But that can be fuzzy — Amazon seems to have taken this action without clearly explaining how they determined which reviews should be eliminated.  Some writers claim that valid reviews by readers they have no relationship with were deleted.  Unfortunately, this could hurt independent writers with a small fan base more than it hurts writers with big PR budgets.

In August, the NYT ran this article on the business of Amazon book reviews, how they are solicited, and how they influence purchasing.  And a Google search of “false book reviews” brought up an embarrassing number of articles on reviews-for-hire, from sources like Forbes, Huffington Post, and The Telegraph.  This is clearly a problem.

As a reviewer and a consumer, I’d love for Amazon to crack down on false or paid-for reviews.  I’d like to think the star rating means something.  But I think addressing the false review problem needs to be done transparently, with clear criteria for what reviews are allowed and disallowed.  For example, one woman interviewed in the article has posted 25,000 reviews on Amazon, which has led a group of advocates to fight to ban her reviews (she says she just reads really easy books).  Applying a limit on how many reviews one individual can post seems a fair way to reduce the number of fake reviews and people reviewing just for the money.  I also have no problem with a rule that says no family members or people with a financial interest in the book’s sales should be allowed to post.  Rules are a good thing, if applied clearly and fairly, and if reasonably designed to address the problem at hand.

However, one sticking point for a lot of people is that Amazon doesn’t care whether a person has actually read the book they are reviewing. I would much rather read the clearly-biased review of a family member than read a one-star review of a book that hasn’t been read, based on its price or  packaging.  I think Amazon would do much better to establish a policy that says you can’t review something unless you’ve actually used the product.

I also think there should be some sort of appeal process for when valid reviews are eliminated.  Maybe that would be burdensome to Amazon – but if small publishers or self-published authors rely on these reviews, I’d like to see some fairness here.  I can tell you that Amazon reviews are one of the first things I look at when an author sends me a review request.  I don’t assume every review is valid or unbiased – but it does give me a sense of what people think about a book.

Ultimately, you have to read the reviews to decide whether you find someone’s opinion valid – I’d like to think I can tell from a review whether someone is applying a thoughtful, fair judgment rather than just hyping or slamming a book (or any other product).  But can I tell?  If someone writes thousands of fake reviews, they probably get pretty good at it. I’ve heard it suggested that all five-star or one-star reviews are likely to be false.  But I give five-star reviews, just not often.  Maybe identifying bad reviews is harder than we think.

I’d like to say I never sort by star rating – I know by now those stars are pretty meaningless.  But when I’m scanning through books on my list, and don’t have a lot of time, I do look at the ratings.  I have to keep reminding myself I can’t trust them. Which strikes me as very sad.

Farewell, 2012: The Year in Reviews

I thought I’d write a post commemorating the year 2012 at The Book Stop.  It’s been 2 and a half years since I started this blog, and I wanted to think a little bit about what I’ve done this year and where the blog is going.

First, here’s what I read and reviewed:

• Books read in 2012: 64
• Books reviewed in 2012: 51

Books reviewed by genre:

• Classic literature: 8
• Contemporary fiction: 10
• Fantasy, paranormal, steampunk: 11
• Historical fiction: 14
• Science fiction: 5
• Nonfiction: 2

Cross-cutting categories:

• Children/Young Adult: 8
• Part of a Series: 12
• Review requests, ARCs or NetGalleys: 14

Some things I’m proud of in the last year:

• New followers: The Book Stop is a small blog and I’ve never expected otherwise.  But a steady stream of new followers this year made me very happy.  I know that followers aren’t necessarily readers.  But I’m still appreciative every time I get a new follower or a “like” or a comment.
• Review requests: At the beginning of 2012 I received very few author requests.  But the more I review, the more requests I receive each month.  I can’t accept most of the requests, but I love reading and writing about new authors.  I try to choose carefully and I’m happy with most of the books I selected for review this year.
• Challenges: I don’t sign up for a lot of challenges, so last year was a little bit of an experiment, and I think I did really well.  The challenges pushed me to read books I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I ended up reading most of what I committed to read.  On the flip side, I didn’t write posts about these challenge books nearly as much as I was supposed to.
• Reading the classics: In 2012 I finished War and Peace, The Count of Monte Cristo, and North and South – all books I’ve struggled with in the past, and all three worth every minute.  Two books I started but didn’t make it through: Bleak House by Charles Dickens and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.  Should I pick those back up in 2013?

Where do I want to take The Book Stop in 2013?

• Mostly I just want to maintain.  I’ll be taking some grad school classes and that may eat into a lot of my time. I noticed this year that a lot of blogs I really enjoy sort of dropped out of blogging, which is a shame but I understand that real life intervenes.  I’m hoping to just keep up with my 1-2 reviews a week and write the kind of reviews I like to write.  And I’ll just hope you keep reading.

•  I always want to be a better reader of others’ blogs.  I do believe that being a blogger means being a good blog-follower.  I have about 20 blogs I try to visit fairly recently but it’s not often enough!  There are just so many good blogs out there.

•  In 2012 I didn’t do a lot of meme-ing.  I did two Literary Giveaways, the North and South Read-a-long, and a post for Armchair BEA.   For a few weeks I joined the Not A Mommy Blog hop but those aren’t book bloggers so it wasn’t a great fit.  Otherwise I mostly joined the “It’s Monday, What are You Reading” hop hosted by Book Journey – since that lets me talk about what I would have talked about anyway.  I’m always wondering whether I should do more or less of this stuff.  I like Top Ten Tuesday, for example, but it almost never fits into my schedule of when I want to post.  I like the Classics Club monthly prompts, but again, it’s all I can do to write about the things I want to write about.  I don’t need more ideas, just more time.  Thoughts?

•  What bookish topics do you want to hear more about in 2013?  Right now I’m fascinated by the turmoil over false or paid-for reviews on Amazon and other sites.  Should reviews be validated in some way or just completely open (in which case, buyer beware!).  Is e-reading still an interesting topic?  What about the level of sex and violence in young adult fiction?  Is literary writing alive and well or barely breathing?  I would like The Book Stop to be a place where we think about what it means to read, and not just book reviews.

Wishing everyone a very happy 2013!

Is E-reading really reading?

As we head into the holidays, some of you may be thinking about e-readers.  Thinking about giving one?   Asking for one?  Still on the fence?   Here are a few recent articles about e-readers to get you thinking.

You know by now I’m an avid e-reader.  My Kindle is all my favorite books rolled into one, a trusty companion.  But I’m a little on the extreme side.

Last month, this article in Slate got my blood boiling.  It tries, in a long over-blown way, to argue that e-reading isn’t really reading, because “How we hold our reading materials, how we look at them, navigate them, take notes on them, share them, play with them, even where we read them—these are the categories that have mattered most to us as readers throughout the long and varied history of reading.”

When you think about what it means to read, how can e-reading not be reading?  Here’s what reading is: it’s your eyes looking rows of letters and your brain turning those letters into sounds and sounds into meaning.  It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.  So what part of e-reading is different from paper book reading?  Does turning a page mean you’re reading?  Breaking a spine?  To me it’s the letters and words that count.

Granted, children’s books are different.  For young kids, the experience of holding a book, turning pages, looking at illustrations, is a critical part of reading.  At work we call that pre-reading — did you know an infant chewing on a book corner is actually developing pre-reading skills?  Absolutely.  I wouldn’t trade paper children’s books for anything.  But I reject the idea that it’s the same for adults.

On a similar side of things, I wanted to share a nicely written post by fellow blogger Giraffe Days about her experiences with e-reading.  Reading on the e-reader doesn’t work for her, and it makes me realize how individual each reader’s experience is.  We all have different things about books that we love, and if for you it’s the feel of turning pages and the dusty smell of paper and ink, that’s great.  For me, after reading hundreds of books on my Kindle in the last three years, I have to say that the e-reader lets me read more and read better.  But, as I’ve said many times, that’s because most of my reading happens standing up on trains and buses and planes, and e-reading has made my reading life a hundred times easier. I also like the features that make me a better reader, like the ability to highlight, bookmark and search.  And the Kindle lets me be a better consumer, because I can read sample chapters before I buy.

I do think the kind of e-reader you use matters, and it matters how, where, and when you read.  I don’t want to read on an IPad and I don’t care for reading on my Kindle Fire.  Buttons or touch screen?  E-ink or backlit?  Large or small?  Dedicated reader or multi-use device?  All of those options impact your reading experience.  Just don’t tell me it isn’t reading.

A recent NPR article cited by Biblibio tells another story about e-reading and it’s one that I agree with.  We’re reading more, not less, and e-readers aren’t replacing books, just adding to our options.

I’m not here to say anyone should buy an e-reader.  It’s just that there’s an e-phobia out there I find hard to understand.  I don’t think e-readers are out to destroy the printed word.  And from what I hear, indie bookstores in this country are still doing well, in some cases even thriving because of the demise of the big box bookstore.

If an e-reader isn’t the reading experience you want, that’s great.  We can all co-exist.  But an article like the one in Slate that tells me I’m not really reading, when I’ve read more literature in the last three years than I have in the last fifteen?  Now you’ve gone too far.

So, happy holidays and to each his own on the e-reader question.  If you’re hoping for one, good luck.  I suspect this is the last year we’ll debate whether e-reading is really reading — but then again I thought we’d all be driving around in airships by now.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Book Stop

First of all, I want to wish everyone reading this – friends, family, bloggers, etc. – a very happy Thanksgiving.  Of course some of you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but I still wish you a happy holidays, warmish weather, and a chance to think about what you’re thankful for.

So instead of writing about books, even though I’m always thankful for those, here’s what’s on my mind. 

I’m thankful for family.  I’m especially thankful that my sisters are all talking to each other, which in my family is a pretty big deal.  I’m thankful for the weekend I got to share with two of my sisters and their families. I’m lucky that my sisters are my closest friends.  I’m thankful for the time I get to share with my five nieces and one nephew (and then I’m also thankful I get to go home again). 

I’m thankful for the health of my parents and parents-in-law.  Lately I’m taking this much less for granted.  The last few years have brought lots of unwanted health issues, but of course that’s the aging process.  As my parents and parents-in-law go into their seventies and eighties, I do my best to be there for them, or at least to be prepared for a time I might be needed — even though that scares me to pieces.

I’m thankful for my husband; more thankful than I can tell you.  But you’ve probably picked up on that. 

I’m thankful for the life we’ve built together in DC.  I’ve spent a lot of time over the years wishing I lived someplace sunny and beautiful like Hawaii or California, or that my husband would get transferred to some glamorous UK or Europe job where I could ditch my office job and live the traveling life.  None of those things came to fruition, although maybe they could have.  Ultimately, we love our life here, and when faced with a choice we’ve always chosen to stay.  We have friends we care about; a city that never gets boring; and a house and cats that comfort us at the end of a long day and remind us of how much we like to come home together.  

I’m also thankful for blogging.  I’m used to being the person who disappears into the crowd.  Blogging makes me feel like someone’s listening.  I’m thankful for the community and friends I’ve found blogging.  I’m grateful for every new reader that signs up.  I also love hearing from the writers out there – I can’t accept most of the requests I get but I love getting them and I consider each one.   I so admire your dedication and courage.  For me, it’s much easier to talk about books than to create one. 

And this year, I’m thankful for a job opportunity that wasn’t the dream job I’d been searching for, but still lets me accomplish one important goal.  Starting in January, I will no longer be anyone’s supervisor.  I can still do the same education work that I care about (well, most of the time) only I can concentrate on what I’m good at rather than what I’m horrible at, which is managing people.  I can stop spending half my time collecting people’s leave requests and approving them to work from home when I don’t get to.  I won’t have to spend hours each week in training to become a better supervisor, when I only want desperately not to be a supervisor. 

To get to this I had to take something of a demotion, but I have to tell you I couldn’t be happier.  Maybe I should feel like I’ve failed — I just know it’s a great big light at the end of the tunnel for me, a weight lifted.  Use whatever cliché you want, at least I come home from work in a better mood.  I still expect plenty of stress and extra hours from my work; but now I’ll be responsible for my work, not someone else’s.   

And – not supervising is going to allow me to pursue a graduate degree, one I’ve been thinking about for a few years.  It’s a masters in Educational Psychology, with a focus on assessment and evaluation.  Today I signed up for my first course this spring, Intro to Education Research.  

I haven’t taken a graduate class in sixteen years, and I’m excited but nervous.  One, I’ll be the old person in my class.  Two, I can barely figure out how to register for the class (some kind of online portal system that makes me feel about a hundred years old).  And three, what kind of student will I be, now that I’m forty-one and used to having my nights free and let’s be honest, I have a lot less attention span than I did when I was last a student.  But at least this time there’s no Bar Exam waiting for me at the end. 

I’m thankful to have Thanksgiving dinner with my dad, his partner and her family.  I’m happy he has so many people that love and care about him, and I’m glad I can be one of those people.

And while I won’t be with my mom or my sisters or my in-laws on Turkey Day, I’ll be thinking about them and I’m glad they all have family to share the day with. 

That’s my Thanksgiving.  I hope yours is as happy.  Thank you for reading, and for occasionally letting me know you’re listening.

Monday Reads and Vacation Photos

Happy Monday!

Right now I’m reading two books: This is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz (just nominated for the National Book Award), and a science fiction anthology from NetGalley called Diverse Energies.  I have reviews pending for The Report by Jessica Kane, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

Instead of a review I thought I’d post a few photos from our trip to Italy.  It was hard to pick just a few, so this isn’t a great representation of all the cool things we saw.  Enjoy!

First, to Florence:

Then, to Siena, probably our favorite town:

This is a day tour to wineries in Tuscany.  We drank a lot of Brunello and ate homemade cheese, honey, olive oil, etc.  Awesome day!

Then, to Sorrento:

From there we visited Pompeii and Herculaneum:

Then, to Rome:

Tallula Rising: Glen Duncan’s sequel falls short

I loved The Last Werewolf, so I did something I don’t normally do – picked up its sequel right away.  Unfortunately, Tallula Rising disappointed, not just a little but a lot.  I took this book with me on vacation, and while it got me through several stressful days of travel headaches, once I got out of the airport I realized I was NOT enjoying this book.

WARNING: while I don’t think there are spoilers in this review, it is a sequel, so I don’t recommend reading this review if you’re thinking about reading the first book.  If you like horror/supernatural stories at all, STOP HERE and pick up The Last Werewolf.

But if you’ve read Werewolf, here’s my take on the sequel.  I gave some thought to why this book felt so different from the first book.  And here, in a nutshell, is what I came up with:

1)     I loved the character of Jake, but really disliked Tallula.  Jake had intellect and elegance.  He had 200-years perspective on life.  He was also a good friend and cared about the people who helped him along.  Yes, he kills people out of necessity but he tries to plan out who he killed and why.  Tallula, on the other hand, revels in the goriness of her werewolf life.  And while The Last Werewolf was about accepting your inner nature and coming to terms with contradictions, Tallula kind of just lives for food and sex.  She’s not much of a friend to her “handler”, and she does horrible things like chaining a girl in her basement for a month while she waits for the full moon so she can eat her.  Jake would never have kept someone captive and terrified like that.  And this was in the first chapter.  I remember thinking, ugh, I don’t like the way this book is starting out, but The Last Werewolf was so good I gave it a shot.

2)     Along the lines of not liking Tallula, I hated the kid storyline.  Tallula obsesses about being a mother but it’s not meaningful, it’s self-centered.  Sort of “poor me, what a bad parent I am” over and over again.  So of course, the reader is supposed to think “but no, you’re worrying so much that you’re really a good parent”.  Bleh.

3)     Violence.  Violence.  Violence.  I said in my review of The Last Werewolf that I really appreciated how Duncan told a gory story but really skirted the lines of acceptable and necessary violence – for me, at least.  This book crossed my violence threshold early and often.  I wish I’d put it down halfway through — before some incidents in the book got stuck in my head (once there they don’t come out).  There’s violence as in “I can’t help eating this helpless person” and then there’s violence as in prolonged torture and degradation.  I’ll spare you the details since I wish I’d been spared.  I’ll just say again, bleh.

Here’s a link to a Tor.com review that’s a little more balanced.  Reviewer Alex Brown says “reading Talulla Rising was an experience riddled with ambivalency.”  I like what this review has to say about a rape scene in the book.  This part of the book was a perfect example of violence that adds something to a story, that isn’t just there for shock value.  Unfortunately I didn’t find much of that in this book.

The first book was thoughtful, explored new ideas and had an unexpected story and point of view – but this sequel just felt like a poor rehash of those ideas.  It’s just the same characters with more action and horror.  I think that’s an easy trap for a sequel to fall into. But I expected more from Glen Duncan.