Title: The Day the World Ends
Author: Ethan Coen
Pages: 128
Originally Published: 2012
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (Random House)

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My brother, of Bitchin’ Film Reviews, is a movie blogger. So, when I had the opportunity to review the poetry collection of filmmaker Ethan Coen (of the Coen brothers), he agreed to do a guest review. His review appears below.

Attaining a certain level of success in one’s chosen field occasionally gives one the freedom to try their hand at other crafts. Tom Ford took a break from fashion to direct Colin Firth in A Single Man. Madonna apparently writes books for children. And Bjork stops her full-time career of being weird to put out an album every now and then. These efforts are always met with a varying degree of success. While I am a fan of A Single Man, I couldn’t stomach the one book of Madonna’s I tried to read. Ethan Coen, brother and co-director to Joel, has enjoyed a very successful film career, and now has tried his hand at poetry, by releasing The Day the World Ends, 120 pages of poetry and extremely dirty limericks.

There are admittedly very few poetry books on my shelves. My exposure to the genre is limited to two undergrad courses of Russian classic poetry and a childhood spent listening to Shel Silverstein’s books read aloud. That being said, I am not the biggest fan of Mr. Coen’s poetry. There are exceptions, of course. One in particular is a rambling two page ode to a woman endowed with a sizable rear end, and one Ethan takes great pleasure in worshiping with his words. An excerpt:

Oh yes you have a whole lot of ass, woman,
Oh big-ass woman,
And you sling it down the street walking, walking your ass, your
own ass and no one else’s?
And it rolls and thuds along, twin crumpling beach balls,
clomping rear tires,
Flip-flopping ass, walk-slamming ass, wham-bam ass pile-driving . . .

I’ll admit, There’s a pleasing rhythm there, a playful way with his words. I enjoyed giving an enthusiastic reading of it to my sister and brother-in-law. And, yes, it’s funny.

Then there are those poems that seem to have no clear meaning and seem to be of no consequence at all. Here’s one in its entirety called “But, Why?”:

You stand without
To look within;
To come home, leave;
To end, begin.

It’s pleasant enough, but indicative of how inconsequential the whole collection felt to me. The Day the World Ends might be appreciated as something to lay around on the coffee table of a home with no children (serious, if you think The Big Lebowski had rough language, peruse his limericks section). However, I think it’s safe to recommend Ethan keep his day job.

Title: The Power of Habit
Author: Charles Duhigg
Pages: 302
Originally Published: 2012
Format I Read: Adobe Digital Edition (via Netgalley)
Publisher: Random House
Rating:

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While I usually eschew books with any sheen of self-help about them, I could not resist the very title of The Power of Habit. Habits are something I am constantly trying to cultivate or break. And, understanding more about them would only help me in those endeavors, right?

Right. The Power of Habit examines habits and how they work through the lens of a startling array of topics, from marketing Febreeze to habitual gambling, from night terrors to Target’s consumer tracking algorithms, from brain damage to Starbucks’s training program, and from Alcoholic’s Anonymous to Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. In addition to the numerous topics and case studies, the book also examines habits in three different areas: the habits of individuals, the habits of successful organizations, and the habits of societies.

In all, I found it to be a fascinating read. Charles Duhigg is a business reporter for The New York Times, but his writing reads more like a columnist’s or an essayist’s. And the information presented it just downright interesting. I mean, Target can identify pregnant women, who haven’t told anyone let alone Target, just by tracking what they buy. Several black individuals were arrested for refusing to give up their seats to white passengers in the weeks and months leading up to Rosa Parks’s arrest, but the reason her arrest was the catalyst for starting an entire movement can be explained, at least in part, by habits. Febreeze was unmarketable, until researchers noticed one small habit people have after cleaning a room.

Here are some of the things that I will take away from The Power of Habit:

• Once we identify something as a habit, we have the power to change it.
• Companies will do almost anything to get us to buy their stuff.
• Keystone habits (such as making our beds, exercising, and having family dinners) seep over into other areas and change other habits.
• Habits have three parts: a cue, a routine, and a reward.

I will say that it felt a little disjointed at times, in that some of the stories and case studies had a somewhat tenuous link to habits. And, I expected this to be a self-help book. I mean, a book about habits to going to tell you how to make or change your habits, right? Nope. Not this book. In fact, I got all of the way to the end of the book and then I read the appendix, which contains this helpful explanation:

Individuals and habits are all different, and so the specifics of diagnosing and changing the patterns in our lives differ from person to person and behavior to behavior. Giving up cigarettes is different from how you prioritize tasks at work. What’s more, each person’s habits are driven by different cravings.

As a result, this book doesn’t contain one prescription. Rather, I hoped to deliver something else: a framework for understanding how habits work and a guide to experimenting with how they might change. (220)

And with that simple statement, my experience with the whole book changed. I wish the note had come at the beginning, in an author’s note or introduction, because then I would have simply enjoyed the case studies instead of waiting and expecting the instruction to begin. So, that’s my advice. Read this book. But read it as a sociology book that presents information from which you can glean information to apply to your life, rather than as a self-help book that will give you a tidy little formula on changing your habits.

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

Have you read or reviewed this book too? Feel free to jump in with your thoughts or leave a link to your review in the comments.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of TOON Books, a delightful line of comics/graphic novels for children. I’ve read and reviewed almost every book in the TOON Books line here on The Bluestocking Society, including Jack and the Box, Stinky, Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, Luke on the Loose, Benny and Penny in The Big No-No, Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker, Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework, Nina in That Makes Me Mad, Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking, Zig and Wikki in The Cow, and Chick and Chickie in Play All Day. I enjoyed each of these books, but I think The Shark King is my favorite of them all.

The Shark King, by R. Kikuo Johnson

The Shark King is a magical folktale that takes place in Hawaii. It opens with Kalei being rescued from the shark king. She marries her rescuer and soon bears Nanaue. He is placed in a unique situation in which he has to choose between his mother and his father.

I really enjoyed this nuanced story. I loved the Hawaiian and folktale feel to it. The pictures and story are precisely in sync. It’s divided into three chapters and is perfectly suited for the second- and third-grade crowd.

TOON Books are stories in comic book form for young readers. The series advisor is Art Spiegelman, author of the well-regarded Maus graphic novels. Each TOON Book has been vetted by educators and is recommended for elementary school-aged children. I love the idea of introducing children to the comic book/graphic novel form and highly recommend TOON Books to early readers.

Check out TOON-Books.com for a great interactive experience and more information about the line.

I didn’t know much about this Newbery Medal (and National Book Award) winner by Virginia Hamilton except that I’d never read it, so I jumped at the chance to get the ebook from Open Road via NetGalley. Here’s the blurb:

Mayo Cornelius Higgins perches on top of a homemade forty-foot tower, considering two destinies. Behind him is his family’s beloved house at the foot of a mountain that strip mining has reduced to loose rubble. In front of him, the beautiful Ohio River Valley and the great world beyond. As M.C. weighs whether to stay with the family and home he loves or set off into the world on his own, there appear on the horizon two strangers who will make his decision all the more difficult.

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M.C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

I liked so many elements of this book. I loved M.C. And his siblings. And especially his almost goddess-like mother, Banina. I loved the Girl: Lurhetta Outlaw. And the Dude. I loved the singing. And M.C.’s relationship with his father, Jones, which kind of represents his relationship with the past. The themes here, especially the struggle to forge a relationship with the past and yet move forward, are both universal and very specifically drawn here.

What is perhaps the most memorable about the book, though, is the imagery. You can just see it all. M.C. sitting on his pole. The lake, and the tunnel through the lake. The description of Banina singing and the children yodeling in response. The Killburn clan, all six-fingered, and their compound filled with vegetables. The beautiful mountains. The devastated, strip-mined mountains. All of it is beautifully described. I felt that mountain heap inching toward this family on every page.

This is a lovely and unique coming-of-age story, which, like almost every Newbery winner, I wish I had read first as a child.

M.C. Higgins, the Great, by Virginia Hamilton

Have you read or reviewed this book too? Feel free to jump in with your thoughts or leave a link to your review in the comments.

Jetta Carleton is the author of a little-known but well-loved novel called The Moonflower Vine. It was, so far as anyone knew, her only book. After her death, her family looked for the manuscript she had been working on but assumed it was lost in a tornado. However, the manuscript was bequeathed to an old friend and has since fallen into the hands of Harper Perennial. And thus we have Clair de Lune.

Allen Liles has her bachelor’s degree, and her master’s degree is forthcoming. Miraculously, she has found a job teaching at a community college – in the order of her maternal family full of teachers. It’s 1941 and gusts of war have been edging closer to the United States but they have not yet reached the shore. At first, she is all work and no play and dedicates her whole being to teaching. Then she discovers Toby and George, two kindred spirits in the form of two men/boy students. The threesome establish a kind of idyllic literary “salon” discussing poetry and philosophy and music, and Allen glides alone in her own little work, unaware of the potential consequences of her actions.

At the outset, there is a “frame” of a sort, where the author kind of steps in and narrates briefly at the beginning and the ending. Here’s some snippets from the beginning:

Allen Liles is a fictional character. I made her up. Her story is made up too. But not all of it. Part of it’s mine, handed on to her, altered to fit. (1)

If facts are required, the great houses would be scattered and fewer, not all together on one grand avenue. The park on the west would not be so spacious, the town not arranged in quite this way. But it is remembered this way. A street and a house from another town may have moved in, a different part slid southward to become this park. Memory fits everything into place. And memory is truth enough. (2-3)

I found the prose to be lyrical and perfect. It’s simple but descriptive, and the characterization of Allen was mesmerizing for me. This is essentially her story. The other characters all move in and out, but she is always there. And I was happy to spend time with her. Literary references abound – in a bring-you-in kind of way, not a leave-you-out kind of way. Here’s a couple of examples: “But the night, as Thoreau reminds us, is a very different season.” (47) “He closed the book, and they sat for a moment, thoughtfully hugging their knees, lost in the Joycean weather – mist, fog, rain, and evening.” (74)

There is a definite “feminist” vibe, in that, in 1941, Allen is a college graduate and is getting a master’s degree; she has a traditionally male name; she teaches at a college; and the story is not centered on romance. In fact, Allen attends a wedding and feels only this:

Did she know – Maxine, with her head full of dinner dances and pineapples on doilies – did she know what she was getting into? She had walked smiling down the aisle to be delivered into bondage, never to be her own woman again, but the property of another and, for all the honor and comfort, beholden to his laws. Did she know what she was doing? (264)

In the end, this is the story of not only Allen growing up, but decided her destiny. Could she in fact escape from a set of societal and familial rules and expectations to do what she really dreamed of doing? While I am one that tends to follow those darn rules, I was rooting for Allen the whole way.

Clair de Lune, by Jetta Carleton

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for inviting me to participate in this book tour and to Harper Perennial for sending me this lovely book. Be sure to check out the rest of the tour stops.

Have you read or reviewed this book too? Feel free to jump in with your thoughts or leave a link to your review in the comments.

TOON Books is a delightful line of comics for children. I’m an admitted fan, and I’ve read and reviewed several TOON Books here on The Bluestocking Society, including Jack and the Box, Stinky, Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, Luke on the Loose, Benny and Penny in The Big No-No, Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker, Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework, Nina in That Makes Me Mad, and Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking. I enjoyed each of these books, and the two latest offerings from this line are just as delightful.

Zig and Wikki in The Cow, by Nadja Spiegelman & Trade Loeffler

I have to say that Zig and Wikki are two of my favorite TOON characters. Like the other book starring Zig and Wikki, this book has a great story enhanced by real scientific tidbits. Zig and Wikki land on earth to get Zig’s pet fly into an ecosystem. Along the way they learn about ecosystems, flies, dung beetles, cows, and more. It’s fun and it’s educational. And it’s in a graphic novel form. What more could a parent or kid want? Divided into three chapters, this one will leave your grade-schooler wanting more. Luckily, there is also Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework waiting for them.

Chick and Chickie in Play All Day, by Claude Ponti

Chick and Chickie play in this first comic for early readers. The words and concepts are simple. The illustrations cute and minimalist. And there’s some humor over the letter “A” that new readers will surely appreciate. This little book would surely be a winner with most readers just starting out.

TOON Books are stories in comic book form for young readers. The series advisor is Art Spiegelman, author of the well-regarded Maus graphic novels. Each TOON Book has been vetted by educators and is recommended for elementary school-aged children. I love the idea of introducing children to the comic book/graphic novel form and highly recommend TOON Books to early readers.

Check out TOON-Books.com for a great interactive experience and more information about the line.

Title: Scarlet
Author: A.C. Gaughen
Pages: 304
Originally Published: 2012
Format I Read: Kindle (NetGalley)
Publisher: Walker & Company (Bloomsbury)
Rating:

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This is a retelling of the Robin Hood story – with a bit of a twist. Okay, lots of twists. But the major one is that one of the merry men is a woman. Scarlet. Don’t worry. That’s on page 1.

I raced through.
I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. And it’s A.C. Gaughen‘s debut! The thing that struck me the most about this book was the pacing. Gaughen had me racing through to see what happened. And the writing was good too.

I just wanted to read one book.
This may be a reaction to the currently ubiquitous trilogy. But I hated the obvious set up for the sequel (or likely trilogy). Seriously, people, publishers, writers, can’t ANYTHING be stand-alone any more? To be fair, this story does mostly wrap up, but I was hoping for a more conclusive conclusion.

I loved the characters.
Scarlet was a well-drawn character. At first, I was annoyed and confused by some of her behaviors, but, little by little, more and more of her character is revealed. And then I just wanted her to live happily ever after. And the rest of the cast and crew performed well too. The well-known characters (Friar Tuck, Little John, etc.) are familiar but different. And I loved getting to know them. Besides Scarlet, Robin Hood was my favorite character. He’s a moodier Robin than, say, the Disney version, but I liked him.

There’s a plot too.
The romance story here was great. The tension builds and builds and builds. I think the romance plot required some suspension of disbelief with respect to some of the misunderstandings that occurred, but I usually most willingly suspended mine. And, of course, the Robin Hood story was well done. There are prison breaks, and the mean old Sheriff of Nottingham, and a wedding, and taxes, and thieving from the rich to feed the poor. Good (and bad) times were had.

In sum, this is an innovative retelling of a beloved story that I think will appeal to a wide array of readers. Look for its release on Valentine’s Day!

Scarlet, by A.C. Gaughen

Have you read or reviewed this book too? Feel free to jump in with your thoughts or leave a link to your review in the comments.

Title: River in the Sea
Author: Tina Boscha
Pages: 306
Originally Published: 2011
Format I Read: Kindle
Publisher: Self-Published
Rating:

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Tina Boscha contacted me a few weeks ago, asking me to read her self-published historical fiction novel. I was captivated by her email and her description of the book – which is based on her mother’s experiences during the German occupation of the Netherlands. So, I agreed to read River in the Sea. And I’m so glad I did.

I tend to particularly enjoy historical fiction set during World War II, especially books set in Nazi Germany. That sounds a little perverse now that I set it out like that. Think The Book Thief, The Devil’s Arithmetic, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Anyway, this book, River in the Sea, is a nice addition to the genre.

Leen De Graaf, our heroine, is a typical fifteen-year-old. Meaning, she wants to do everything she shouldn’t. But, in the context of the German occupation and a war, her attempts at teenage rebellion have dramatic consequences for her and her family.

She never should have come. She’d been taught this lesson from her earliest days: one sin begat another. A tiny snowball could grow so powerful you could not stop it.

I was riveted within a few dozen pages as one of the pivotal events of the book unfolded. Right riveted. The writing, while a little slow to start, ended up being expressive yet understated. And the pacing was so well done – I could not put it down. But my favorite thing about River in the Sea turned out to be the finely wrought characters. Leen is a lovely narrator, full of teenage insecurities, guilt, curiosity, recklessness, and dreams. She, at all times, felt authentic. And her family and friends and neighbors are drawn so well that they add a rich texture to the book. I love character-driven books, and this is one of them.

The only weakness I felt in the whole book was a slight lack of background information. It is set in Friesland, Netherlands, which is apparently the name of the place and a specific ethnic group. I craved more information about the ethnic group, the implications of the occupation, like the oft referenced raids for men and boys, and the general layout of the town and the family home. Still, I was able to piece all of the necessary information together.

River in the Sea is well-written, well-paced, and contains lovable and authentic characters. I’m rather shocked that this book has not found a publisher.

River in the Sea, by Tina Boscha

ALERT! River in the Sea is currently available for $0.99 on the Kindle and for $3.99 on the Nook.

Have you read or reviewed this book too? Feel free to jump in with your thoughts or leave a link to your review in the comments.

THE TINY BOOK OF TINY STORIES: VOLUME 1

By hitRECord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

This little book is the result of a huge collaboration. Joseph Gordon-Levitt started hitRECord, which is an “open-collaborative production company.” Essentially, artists of all kinds are encouraged to join the community and submit their work. And then, the artists are encouraged to “remix” the work of others and create new art together. In this way, a community of artists collaborates via the internet. Magic. (And don’t worry; when any of the products make money, hitRECord splits the profits 50/50 with the artists.)

The tiny stories project is just one of the products of this unique community. The theme of the project is a modified quote: “The universe is not made of atoms; it is made of [tiny] stories.” Though tiny, these stories were a delight to delve into on a winter’s afternoon. Here is one of my favorite stories:

And here’s the text of another of my favorites:

His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling. (68)

There is something about this tiny book that makes me want to write tiny stories. Or at least to watch for them as I go about my day. And perhaps to share those tiny stories with others. An inspiring tiny book it is. I think you’ll like it.

MENTAL_FLOSS: THE BOOK

Edited by Ethan Trex, Will Pearson, and Mangesh Hattikudur

I think there is something about human nature that loves lists of things. And I am no different. While the internet is a vast source of information, there is just something about a book of trivia. Something you can flip through at random to find interesting tidbits you never would have thought to Google. And Mental_Floss: The Book is one of those books.

There are 140 lists presented, themselves grouped into lists of tens: 10 Lists to Lighten the Mood at the E.R., 10 Pop Culture Lists to Breakk Out on the Red Carpet, 10 Lists for People Who Can’t Write Good, etc. There is something for everyone here, book lovers included:

Six Works of Literature That Were Really Hard to Write
What 10 Fictional Characters Were Almost Called
What Eight Classic Books Were Almost Called
Six Words Invented by Authors
The Little-Known Stories of Five Famous Authors
Nine Things Mark Twain Didn’t Say (And Nine He Did)

From these lists I learned that Scarlett O’Hara was named Pansy until just before Gone with the Wind went to print, that To Kill A Mockingbird was originally titled Atticus, and that J.R.R. Tolkien coined the term “tween.” My favorite list though, by far, is the one entitled “Seven Reasons Mr. Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever.” Did you know that some thieves once stole his car and later returned it with a note that said, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it”?

Anyway, this is a great little trove of trivia treasures. And check out Mental_Floss for more fascinating facts.

SCARLET

by A.C. Gaughen

Okay, my full review of this one is to come, but I wanted to put a teaser out there. I couldn’t put this one down. Watch for my forthcoming review and the release on February 14th!

TOON Books is a delightful line of comics for children. I’ve read and reviewed several TOON Books here on The Bluestocking Society, including Jack and the Box, Stinky, Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, Luke on the Loose, Benny and Penny in The Big No-No, Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker, and Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework. I enjoyed each of these books, and the two latest offerings from this line are just as delightful.

Nina in That Makes Me Mad, by Hilary Knight

Nina is a lovable preschooler who expresses her frustration in a variety of scenarios common in younger children’s lives – getting blamed for a sibling making a mess, having to eat something for dinner that you don’t like, etc. Knight’s vignettes are true to life and sympathetic to the child’s plight. All preschoolers will relate to Nina’s frustrations and hopefully learn from the moral – that it’s okay to appropriately express your feelings. This book would be perfect for any early reader.

Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking, by Philippe Coudray

Benjamin Bear and his friends find humor and friendship in a variety of scenarios. This book is made up of one-page comic strip-style stories full of whimsy. Coudray is French, and I found that these do have a continental flavor. The stories are certainly age appropriate and strike me as the kind of humor I would have enjoyed as a young child. So while there isn’t a lot there for adults, I think this is another winner for the preschool set.

TOON Books are stories in comic book form for young readers. The series advisor is Art Spiegelman, author of the well-regarded Maus graphic novels. Each TOON Book has been vetted by educators and is recommended for elementary school-aged children. I love the idea of introducing children to the comic book/graphic novel form and highly recommend TOON Books to early readers.

Check out TOON-Books.com for a great interactive experience and more information about the line.