The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman

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Set against the burgeoning Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and then just before the outbreak of the Civil War, The Freedom Maze explores both political and personal liberation, and how the two intertwine.

In 1960, thirteen-year-old Sophie isn’t happy about spending the summer at her grandmother’s old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can’t resist exploring once she finds it has a secretive and mischievous inhabitant.

When Sophie, bored and lonely, makes an impulsive wish, she slips back one hundred years into the past, to the year 1860. She hopes for a fantasy book adventure with herself as the heroine. Instead, she gets a real adventure in the race-haunted world of her family’s Louisiana sugar plantation in 1860, where she is mistaken for a slave.  

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is still two years in the future. The Thirteen Amendment—abolishing and prohibiting slavery—will not be not passed until April 1864.

Muddy and bedraggled, Sophie obviously isn’t a young lady of good breeding. She must therefore be a slave. And she is.




This book feels a lot like Kindred for the Young Adult crowd: time travel; modern girl/woman turned slave; and two historical fiction books in one.

And it's SO good!

I've been trying to get my mother to read Kindred for over a year, but she has no interest in reading sad stories anymore, so she's sticking to Romance.  I think I could get her to read this one, though.  It's not as graphic as Octavia E. Butler's writing, and there's more of a happy ending.

There are definitely some creepy moments; you can't take a subject like slavery and make it all rainbows and unicorns.

This is the first book I've read by Delia Sherman; I will be sure to read more.

The Shadowy Horses, by Susanna Kearsley

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THE INVINCIBLE NINTH ROMAN LEGION MARCHES FROM YORK TO FIGHT THE NORTHERN TRIBES. AND THEN VANISHES FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY.

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea.

Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it—not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has "seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades.

Here on the windswept shores, Verity may find the answer to one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. Or she may uncover secrets someone buried for a reason.




I absolutely adore Susanna Kearsley!  She knows how to tell a story and make you fall in love with the characters.  I thought that the narrator did an amazing job distinguishing between the different players and I freely admit to swooning over her Scottish accent.

Speaking of swooning, I loved the relationship between Verity and David.  First colleagues, then friends, then:

DED.  Though I do wish she hadn't faded-to-black.  Give me smexy times!

Did I mention the kilts?

Yes, please!

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

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A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.

Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year.

An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees—how they approach worker safety—and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones.

What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives.

They succeeded by transforming habits.

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation. 




I love stuff like this!

The Power of Habit created so many "aha!" moments and the desire to challenge myself.  Thanks to this book and the stories therein, I purchased a FitBit -- with which I am already completely head-over-heels in love -- to get in the habit of exercising more.  I'm more aware of my own patterns and those of my children, which I hope will make me a better parent.  And it helps to know why I crave certain things, even when I tell myself that I don't really want them.

Highly recommended.

Don't Get Too Comfortable, by David Rakoff

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Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems 

David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. Whether he is contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air; working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel; or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot—where he is provided with his very own personal manservant—rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly skewered. 

Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. 

Simultaneously a Wildean satire and a plea for a little human decency, Don’t Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we’re in a special circle of gilded-age hell.




I don't get the hype surrounding the likes of David Rakoff and David Sedaris.  I don't find either one charming, or witty, or funny.  I read this book as part of a challenge and have no desire to read any of his other works.

Seraphina (Seraphina #1), by Rachel Hartman

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Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.




This was almost—ALMOST!—a five-star book.  I was quite displeased with the love triangle and felt that the end "revelation" was a cop-out.  

That being said, I do love this book!  Hartman has created a fantastical world full of dragons and humans.  The descriptions are captivating and I was drawn in to the story from the very beginning.  Seraphina is a strong heroine who will appeal to geeky teenagers.  It's always nice to find kick-ass women in fantasy and science fiction novels who wear more than skimpy lingerie.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series.  I just hate that I have to wait until next year!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

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One of the best-known stories in American culture, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has stirred the imagination of young and old alike for over 100 years. Best Actress nominee Anne Hathaway lends her voice to this uniquely American fairy tale.

Follow the adventures of young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto as they get swept away into the magical land of Oz , where they encounter characters and places you may remember from the movie--and several more that never made it to the big screen--on an unforgettable journey to the Emerald City.





I'm not a fan of Anne Hathaway, so I was a bit nervous about listening to this version.  But I got it free from Audible, so it wasn't going to be a huge deal if I hated it and flounced.

I'm truly impressed.  Hathaway did an amazing job with the narration.  I've never read the book before, but I love the movie, and I wanted to know what they cut out when they adapted the story.

I wouldn't say that the book is better, but it is different.  Did you know that the ruby slippers were originally silver?  Or that Glenda the Good Witch doesn't meet Dorothy until the end?  And there are little made-of-china people who live in Oz?  There's a plethora of new experiences!

Highly recommended.  I can't wait until my kids are older so we can read this as a family.

The Chocolate War (Chocolate War #1), by Robert Cormier

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Stunned by his mother's recent death and appalled by the way his father sleepwalks through life, Jerry Renault, a New England high school student, ponders the poster in his locker: Do I dare disturb the universe?

Part of his universe is Archie Costello, leader of a secret school society--the Virgils--and master of intimidation.  Archie himself is intimidated by a cool, ambitious teacher into having the Virgils spearhead the annual fund-raising event--a chocolate sale.  When Jerry refuses to be bullied into selling chocolates, he becomes a hero, but his defiance is a threat to Archie, the Virgils, and the school.  In the inevitable showdown, Archie's skill at intimidation turns Jerry from hero to outcast, to victim, leaving him alone and terribly vulnerable.




If I had read this book a few years ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of a group of kids excluding a single student.  But times have changed--or social media is allowing for more publicized accounts--and this book is highly relevant in today's culture.

Even though it's relevant, I didn't like it.  Teenagers who torment their fellow classmates.  Adults who turn a blind eye or encourage such actions.  Kids who don't stand up for their friends.

Throughout the book, I expected a certain outcome, and I'm disappointed in the one that was delivered instead.  Not that it's the wrong ending, but it's not what I wanted; it left me feeling like there was something missing.  There is a sequel, and maybe that answers some of my niggling questions, but I have no desire to read the second book.

Aesop's Fables, by Aesop

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Aesop (c620-560 BC), known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a slave who was a contemporary of Croesus and Peisistratus in the mid-sixth century BC in ancient Greece. 

The various collections that go under the rubric Aesop's Fables are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for various entertainments, especially children's plays and cartoons. Most of what are known as Aesopic fables is a compilation of tales from various sources, many of which originated with authors who lived long before Aesop.  Aesop himself is said to have composed many fables, which were passed down by oral tradition.

Socrates was thought to have spent his time turning Aesop's fables into verse while he was in prison. Demetrius Phalereus, another Greek philosopher, made the first collection of these fables around 300 BC. This was later translated into Latin by Phaedrus, a slave himself, around 25 BC. The fables from these two collections were soon brought together and were eventually re-translated into Greek by Babrius around A. D. 230. 

Many additional fables were included, and the collection was in turn translated to Arabic and Hebrew, further enriched by additional fables from these cultures.




Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Sour grapes. 
Honesty is the best policy.
Necessity is the mother of invention.


This is the first time I read more than one fable in a row.  A few items of note:

1. The stories themselves are really short.  Some are only a few lines long.  I thought they were much longer.
2. Aesop loved to write about wolves, sheep, foxes, horses, and other animals.  Whenever he spoke of cocks and asses*, I giggled like a child. 
3. The Librivox narrator did a fantastic job.  I can't imagine reading more than 300 fables--some of which are strikingly similar--hour after hour after hour.
4. It's pretty amazing how these lessons have stood the test of time.  Over 2,500 years later, they still ring true and are used all.the.time.  I can't imagine the quotes that will be used from our era in 2,500 years.  Too legit to quit?  I am not a crook?  I did not have sex with that woman?  

* Roosters and donkeys, people.  Get your minds out of the gutter.

Eleanor & Park: Third Time's a Charm?

I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch.

Self, I thought, there's no way you'll cry during Eleanor & Park this time.  You've already listened to it twice; you know what happens, so you're prepared.

Yep, I'm an idiot.  But I don't care.  I am so in love with this book that I will listen to it a hundred times and cry at every turn.  I'll be the blubbering fool at whom people stare with their eyebrows raised.  It's too well-written, too powerful, too amazing to hold back all the feels.

sigh

GIF created by the uber-talented Simini Blocker

The Heretic Queen, by Michelle Moran

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In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family’s past and remake history.

The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty’s royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaoh’s aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.

Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.

Sweeping in scope and meticulous in detail, The Heretic Queen is a novel of passion and power, heartbreak and redemption.




Michelle Moran is absolutely brilliant.  She has the ability to weave historical events and people with fictional accounts.  I loved her previous novel, Nefertiti, and The Heretic Queen is just as amazing.  

I've always had a interest in Ancient Egypt and I love the imagery that Moran presents.  I felt like I was right there in Thebes and Pi-Ramesses, praying to the Gods and loving my husband & country, all while the populace condemned me for my ancestors' actions.

I was so caught up the story that I forgot that this is--ultimately--a work of fiction.  Much is unknown about the 19th Dynasty, but Moran fills in the gaps beautifully.  She has given me a better understanding of a fascinating time period, prompting me to research further.

Still Alice, by Lisa Genova

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Alice Howland—Harvard professor, gifted researcher, and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children—sets out for a run and soon realizes she has no idea how to find her way home.  She has taken the route for years, but nothing looks familiar.  She is utterly lost.  Medical consults reveal early-onset Alzheimer's.

Alice slowly but inevitably loses memory and connection with reality, as told from her perspective. She gradually loses the ability to follow a conversational thread, the story line of a book, or to recall information she heard just moments before.  Genova's debut shows the disease progression through the reactions of others, as Alice does, so readers feel what she feels: a slowly building terror.



 
I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to Alzheimer's.  My maternal grandmother was diagnosed with the disease when I was in my teens, but she lived halfway across the country and I never saw her health decline.  My paternal grandfather suffered from some dementia when he was in his 90s, but it was never very obvious.

Listening to this audiobook was not easy: Alice is a brilliant woman who loses everything about herself.  It's a heartbreaking story and one that I hope I never have to experience.

Lisa Genova narrates this audiobook and she does an amazing job.  Not all authors are qualified to read their own works; Genova is a rare exception.

Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

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Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.

One of Shakespeare's darkest and most violent tragedies, Macbeth's struggle between his own ambition and his loyalty to the King is dramatically compelling.

As those he kills return to haunt him, Macbeth is plagued by the prophecy of three sinister witches and the power hungry desires of his wife.





Confession #1: Despite my love of theatre and the years I spent performing on stage, I've never actually read Macbeth (though I still wouldn't dare to say his name in any sort of theatrical venue). 
 
Confession #2: I won't listen to Shakespeare again.  I am a visual learner and his works are too difficult to decipher just by listening to the performance; I need to see or read the play in order to grasp its meaning.

Confession #3: I did not actually finish Macbeth.  Instead, I am going to read a recap and call it a day.

Confession #4: The entire time I was listening, I kept thinking forward to January 2014, when my BFF and I are flying to London for the weekend, just to see David Tennant in Richard II.

If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), by Betty White

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It-girl Betty White delivers a hilarious, slyly profound take on love, life, celebrity, and everything in between.

Drawing from a lifetime of lessons learned, seven-time Emmy winner Betty White's wit and wisdom take center stage as she tackles topics like friendship, romantic love, aging, television, fans, love for animals, and the brave new world of celebrity.  

If You Ask Me mixes her thoughtful observations with humorous stories from a seven- decade career in Hollywood. Longtime fans and new fans alike will relish Betty's candid take on everything from her rumored crush on Robert Redford (true) to her beauty regimen ("I have no idea what color my hair is and I never intend to find out") to the Facebook campaign that helped persuade her to host Saturday Night Live despite her having declined the hosting job three times already.

Featuring all-new material, with a focus on the past fifteen years of her life, If You Ask Me is funny, sweet, and to the point--just like Betty White.




I love Betty White.  I think she is a brilliant comedienne and one of the most down-to-earth celebrities in Hollywood.  But I didn't love this book.

I don't really know what the point of the book is supposed to be, so I came away from it thinking nothing more than "Huh, okay."  In fact, I'm scratching my head and wondering why this book was written and published.  I didn't learn anything that I didn't know before.

Wait!  That's not true.

I didn't know that she was born and raised in Los Angeles: I'm still convinced that she's from St. Olaf.

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver

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Evocative of Alice in Wonderland, this novel from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver is a bewitching story about the reaches of loyalty and the enduring power of hope.

Looking across the breakfast table one morning, twelve-year-old Liza feels dread wash over her. Although her younger brother, Patrick, appears the same, Liza knows that he is actually quite different. She is certain that the spindlers—evil, spiderlike beings—came during the night and stole his soul. And Liza is also certain that she is the only one who can rescue him.

Armed with little more than her wits and a huge talking rat for a guide, Liza descends into the dark and ominous underground to save Patrick's soul. Her quest is far from easy: she must brave tree-snakes, the Court of Stones, and shape-shifting scawgs before facing her greatest challenge in the spindlers' lair, where more than just Patrick's soul is at stake.




Are you a fan of Labyrinth?  What about Harry Potter or Percy Jackson?  If you are, I have no doubt that you will like this book, too.

Lauren Oliver did a fantastic job of creating this underground world and populating it with new life forms and memorable characters.  I almost can't believe that this is the same author who wrote Before I Fall (young adult contemporary, which I also loved), since it's such a different genre.  Color me impressed!

I highly recommend this book for middle grade students and their parents.