You likey? ME LIKEY.

Check it out, readers!  The Well-Read Redhead has a new look, and I daresay I LURVE IT.

Up to now, I've been switching around between various free Blogger templates, trying to find one that fit all my picky requirements:

-clean and simple
-easy to read
-properly formats pictures (my last layout did a funky thing with photos on the homepage)
-lets me reply directly to each comment (without having to create a whole new comment)
-fun social media buttons near the header

I soon realized that all my hopes and dreams were NOT going to be found in a free layout online.  So, when I heard that Lori over at Pure Imagination was doing a sale on her premade designs, I jumped on it.  AND I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER.  The design is exactly what I was looking for, and she had it up and installed for me less than 24 hours after I placed the order.  ROCK ON, GIRLFRIEND.

Lori is a YA book blogger too, so check her out, peeps.  She's good people.  Then come back here and enjoy my lovely layout some more!

It's Monday, peeps!

So what are you reading?

This weekend was another busy one around these parts, as we did a day trip on Saturday to visit the in-laws, and then yesterday was full of errands...although I did get to use a little tax return money to start my summer vacation shopping.  YES!  T-minus 3 months until a fantastical week of beach time.  Must load up the Kindle too...

In other news, Small Fry has started to refer to our cars as the "beep-beeps".  WHICH IS SO ADORABLE.  Love that kid.  He does something new every day.

Anyway, what am I reading?

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Sage Singer befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses…and then he confesses his darkest secret - he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.

What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who's committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And most of all - if Sage even considers his request - is it murder, or justice? (Goodreads link)

The newest Picoult release that I picked up at her kickoff event last month.  I AM HOOKED.  The story is complex and mysterious and dramatic and full of awesome.  I'll admit, when I saw she was tackling the Holocaust, I was a little skeptical...there are SO many fiction novels that take on that topic, I wasn't sure how she was going to approach it from an original angle.  But those concerns quickly went out the window.  I hope the ending gives a big pay-off to match the rest of the novel.  Review coming later this week!

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

Huw Morgan, about to leave home forever, reminisces about the golden days of his youth, when South Wales still prospered and coal dust had not yet blackened the valley. Llewellyn's characters fight, love, laugh, and cry, creating an indelible portrait of a people. (Goodreads link)

As I mentioned last week, I decided to use this as my book for Wales in the Around The World In 12 Books Challenge.   I just started it this weekend...not bad so far.  A slower pace than the Picoult book for sure, but I'm impressed with the breadth of characters and how quickly I'm coming to be attached to Huw.  This is a long one though, so we'll see how I fare!

Also, I'm still listening to the audiobook of The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht.  It continues to be fantastic.  Can't wait to review soon!

What's on tap next?
Probably At the Mercy of the Mountains by Peter Bronski (for this month's Keyword Challenge), and/or Evil Water by Inger Wolf--I have a review copy and it sounds pretty thrilling.  Have you read either of these two?  Any recommendations?

Have a great reading week!

Book Review: I'll Take What She Has by Samantha Wilde

Title: I'll Take What She Has
Author: Samantha Wilde
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Source: e-ARC received via NetGalley for an honest review

Plot Summary from Goodreads:

Nora and Annie have been best friends since kindergarten. Nora, a shy English teacher at a quaint New England boarding school, longs to have a baby. Annie, an outspoken stay-at-home mother of two, longs for one day of peace and quiet (not to mention more money and some free time). Despite their very different lives, nothing can come between them—until Cynthia Cypress arrives on campus.
 
Cynthia has it all: brains, beauty, impeccable style, and a gorgeous husband (who happens to be Nora’s ex). When Cynthia eagerly befriends Nora, Annie’s oldest friendship is tested. Now, each woman must wrestle the green-eyed demon of envy and, in the process, confront imperfect, mixed-up family histories they don’t want to repeat. Amid the hilarious and harried straits of friendship, marriage, and parenthood, the women may discover that the greenest grass is right beneath their feet.

My Review:

As I mentioned in my Monday post, I love me some mommy fiction.  Motherhood is in a unique zip code of Crazy-Town that has a very specific set of worries, rewards, and neuroses.  Women's fiction novels that deal in this area are, admittedly, targeting a very specific audience, but I think that audience is often eager to see their daily joys and sorrows brought to life on the page.

Hence my excitement for this novel.  As it opened, I found myself enamored with the two main characters, Nora and Annie.  The chapters alternate between their points-of-view.  Nora is desperate for a baby, and has been trying to conceive for nearly a year with her husband Alfie.  Her best friend Annie, on the other hand, has two "oopsie" babies (very fertile, she is) and stays at home to care for them.  She's convinced that she's meant to stay at home, and not work...or is she?

Right away, I was struck by how vividly and humorously Wilde was able to write about Nora and Annie's opposing struggles.  From Nora's frantic ovulation charting, to Annie's hectic diffusion of toddler tantrums, she had me laughing and sympathizing with both of them.  I was impressed by the wide array of mothering issues that were touched upon in the novel, and in a way that will leave mom-readers nodding and smiling as they go.  Plus, Wilde's writing style is such that she often purposely leaves you hanging with certain conversations and details, which is a great way to keep you interested from chapter to chapter.

However, in the end I felt rather lukewarm about this book.  Why?  Well, outside of the clarity with which the motherhood issues were illustrated, the rest of the book felt a little shallow.  Take, for instance, Cynthia Cypress--the new friend of Nora's that is mentioned in the book description.  She plays a fairly large role in the plot, but her character is annoyingly flat and one-sided.  For someone who has such an emotional impact on the protagonists, we learn very little about Cynthia by the end of the novel.  At first, I thought this was an attempt to shroud her in mystery, but the "reveal" about her at the end was underwhelming, and didn't seem to warrant her lack of development throughout the book.

I felt similarly about the plot action as a whole.  Its movement was very slow, and often anticlimactic.  I found that, by the conclusion, I didn't have much emotion towards how everything wrapped up.  It was rather a feeling of, "...that's it?"  Much like with Cynthia's character, the major plot events were not built up enough throughout the novel, which makes the ending feel bland.  There is also a lot of repetition in the novel, best illustrated by the constant use of the phrase "I'll take what she has" (or some variation) in the character's conversations.  This constant use of the title became grating after a while, even though the message it attempts to convey is a good one (the grass is not always greener on the other side).

Final verdict?  This book is a perfect illustration of a 3-star Goodreads review.  There were a lot of things I loved: the motherhood anecdotes, the humor, the jumping POV between characters, the underlying message.  However, there were a lot of weaknesses in the foundational parts of the book:  plot and character development.  In the end, this one was middle-of-the-road for me.

Other reviews of I'll Take What She Has:
Book'd Out
5 Minutes For Books
Life, Army Wife Style

Wondrous Words Wednesday (22)

Welcome back, wordy friends!

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.

Here are three of my favorite new-to-me words from my recent reads.  All definitions from Dictionary.com.

1. diaspora. "Ending the diaspora requires people with a variety of skills and the motivation to use them." (from God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau)  
noun
1. (with initial capital letter) the scattering of the Jews to countries outside of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity.
2. (with initial capital letter) the body of Jews living in countries outside Israel.
3. (with initial capital letter) such countries collectively: the return of the Jews from the Diaspora.
4. any group migration or flight from a country or region.
5. any group that has been dispersed outside its traditional homeland, especially involuntarily, as Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Certainly an appropriate word for the many Sudanese who fleed the country throughout the war.

2. caliphate. "(Spoiler) was the apex of a holy pyramid that had begun when Osama bin Laden initiated a call for victory in the name of Islam and the Wahhabi caliphate." (from The Intercept by Dick Wolf)
noun
The rank, jurisdiction, or government of a caliph.

And a caliph is (after I looked it up) a spiritual leader of Islam.

3. vertiginous. "It is vertiginous following her."  (from Indiscretion by Charles Dubow)

adjective

1. whirling; spinning; rotary: vertiginous currents of air.

2. affected with vertigo; dizzy.

3. liable or threatening to cause vertigo: a vertiginous climb.

4. apt to change quickly; unstable: a vertiginous economy.

I guess I should have been able to figure this one out from the root (vertigo)...didn't realize it until I saw the definition!

What are your new words this week?

The One In Which I Have Beef With Hollywood

Am I the only one that thinks Hollywood is running out of material?  I feel like one out of every 2-3 movie previews I see these days is an adaptation from a novel.

Granted, this can be a good thing (The Godfather, Shutter Island, and the Harry Potters come to mind).  But often, it is not (The Stand miniseries...GAH.  And Jurassic Park the book, SO MUCH BETTER than the movie).

So I decided to see how Hollywood fared with some of my literary favorites.  I went through my faves list on Goodreads, and picked out the books that had movie adaptations (that I've seen).  Here's my assessment:

1. Atonement by Ian McEwan

This is a perfect example of a movie that was very good...just not QUITE so good as the book.  The novel wow'ed me with the way McEwan used language to draw out these subtle undercurrents between all of the characters.  This is not something that translates well into film.  While I do think the movie retained an atmosphere similar to that of the book, there is just a feeling of something being missing when you compare it to the prose.

2. What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson

Both the movie and the book made me cry.  However, this is one of those movies that, though enjoyable, completely leaves out and/or changes significant parts of the novel.  And when I like a book to begin with, it's tough to see significant changes made in the movie version...even if the movie is otherwise excellent.

3. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Potentially my all-time favorite book, and a complete flop on screen.  First of all, the time travel just does not translate well between how Niffenegger wrote it and how it was done in the movie.  A lot was lost there.  And THE ENDING.  This goes up there with My Sister's Keeper for Worst Hollywood Butchering of a Book Ending.  Horrid.

4. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (US version)

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this movie.  NAILED IT.  Right down to the dark-and-depressing atmosphere/setting.  I loved the opening song on the soundtrack (so fitting, and it's actually on my running playlist now), and Rooney Mara is a fan-fricking-tastic Lisbeth Salander.

5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I felt kind of blah about this movie.  It's an extremely Hollywood-ized version of the book.  The whole illustration of Susie's "heaven" in the movie was quite obviously adapted so that it would be visually pleasing on screen.  And a LOT of important details were left out regarding the circumstances surrounding Susie's death and the investigation afterwards.  As a result, I think the book packs a much more powerful punch.

6. Matilda by Roald Dahl

Ah, a favorite from my childhood!  And I'm happy to say that the movie did not disappoint.  I adore the film version, and as a kid I loved seeing a visual representation of the book heroine I had come to love. Plus, the movie highlights some of the funny parts a bit better than the book.  I am definitely due for a re-watch (and a re-read) of this one.

What do you think, readers?  How has Hollywood handled some of your literary favorites?

It's Monday, and here's what I'm reading...

Happy Monday, readers!  This weekend was a little nutty, as Small Fry was sick (Friday/Saturday), I had to work (Saturday), and the husband and I went to a wedding (Sunday).  I need a weekend from my weekend!

Because of all the crazy, I didn't get a ton of reading in...but here's what I'm reading now:

I'll Take What She Has by Samantha Wilde

Nora and Annie have been best friends since kindergarten. Nora, a shy English teacher at a quaint New England boarding school, longs to have a baby. Annie, an outspoken stay-at-home mother of two, longs for one day of peace and quiet (not to mention more money and some free time). Despite their very different lives, nothing can come between them—until Cynthia Cypress arrives on campus.
 
Cynthia has it all: brains, beauty, impeccable style, and a gorgeous husband (who happens to be Nora’s ex). When Cynthia eagerly befriends Nora, Annie’s oldest friendship is tested. Now, each woman must wrestle the green-eyed demon of envy and, in the process, confront imperfect, mixed-up family histories they don’t want to repeat. Amid the hilarious and harried straits of friendship, marriage, and parenthood, the women may discover that the greenest grass is right beneath their feet. (Goodreads link)

MOMMY FICTION!!  Oh mah gah, if there is a subgenre of women's fiction that I love most, it is certainly mommy fiction.  I'm about 2/3 done with this one, and it's both funny and poignant.  Can't wait to share my review with you later this week.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

(Did you know if you Google "tiger's wife" in images...this is not what comes up.)

In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself.

But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel. (Goodreads link)

This is my current audiobook.  It came highly recommended, and so far I am most definitely intrigued. I still have 6.5 discs to go, but I am loving the writing style (lyrical and almost ethereal at times).  Having much better luck with this than the last few audios I've tried...

What's on tap next?
Probably either How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn (for the Around The World In 12 Books Challenge--Wales!) or At the Mercy of the Mountains by Peter Bronski (for this month's Keyword Challenge).  Have you read either of these two?  Any recommendations?

Have a great reading week!

Book Review: The Trajectory of Dreams by Nicole Wolverton

Title: The Trajectory of Dreams
Author: Nicole Wolverton
Publisher: Bitingduck Press
Publication Date: March 1, 2013
Source: review copy received from the author for an honest review

Plot Summary from Goodreads:

For Lela White, a Houston sleep lab technician, sleep doesn’t come easy—there’s a price to be paid for a poor night’s sleep, and she’s the judge, jury, and executioner.

Everyone around Lela considers her a private woman with a passion for her lab work. But nighttime reveals her for what she is: a woman on a critical secret mission. Lela lives in the grip of a mental disorder that compels her to break into astronauts’ homes to ensure they can sleep well and believes that by doing so, she keeps the revitalized U.S. space program safe from fatal accidents. What began at the age of ten when her mother confessed to blowing up the space shuttle has evolved into Lela’s life’s work. She dreads the day when an astronaut doesn’t pass her testing, but she’s prepared to kill for the greater good. 

When Zory Korchagin, a Russian cosmonaut on loan to the U.S. shuttle program, finds himself drawn to Lela, he puts her carefully-constructed world at risk of an explosion as surely as he does his own upcoming launch. As Lela’s universe unravels, no one is safe.

My Review:

A few months ago, Nicole Wolverton emailed me to ask if I'd like to read and review her recent release, The Trajectory of Dreams.  She lured me in by saying it had a "dark, twisty feel" similar to that of Gone Girl.  Immediately, my book Spidey-sense was up.  I definitely couldn't resist that kind of description!

In short, this book delivered on my expectations.  It's sinister and disturbing--not in the manner of a horror novel, but as a psychological thriller that blurs the lines between reality and insanity.  The protagonist, Lela, is ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.  I can't even begin to come up with a psychiatric diagnosis for her.  And next to the term "unreliable narrator" in the dictionary is a picture of Lela White.  At the beginning of the novel, you know she's a little off, but as the novel progresses, you watch helplessly as she gets sucked into the vortex of her own demented thoughts.  I guarantee that the last 50-60 pages will require you to read all in one sitting--the plot starts to snowball so quickly, you will ignore all others around you until you see what comes up next.

The interesting thing about Lela's character (other than being five cans short of a six pack) is that you actually can't help but feel a little sad for her...despite all of the havoc she wreaks on those around her.  Pieces of her past are slowly revealed throughout the book, things that Lela herself clearly hasn't come to terms with yet.  When you take these background details along with her current motives and actions, it's hard to decide if Lela is a woman to be feared, abhorred, or pitied.

The one thing I sometimes had a tough time with throughout the book was the side characters.  I say "sometimes" because, since Lela was the only narrator, I don't know if my problems with the characters are because of how they truly are meant to be, or because Lela did a poor job of describing them (rightly so).  For example, Trina (Lela's coworker/roommate): I found her to be overly nosy, jumping into Lela's business (like moving into her house?) in a way that I didn't find believable at all.  But was she REALLY that nosy, or did Lela portray her as such because she THOUGHT Trina was nosy?  And Max (Lela's coworker): is he outrageously ogre-ugly or does she just illustrate him that way?  I'd be interested to hear what other readers think about this!  In general, I do wish these secondary characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, but I see the challenge in doing that with Lela as the narrator.

Overall, this is a spectacular read.  You can compare it, atmospherically, to Gone Girl, but this is absolutely a psychological thriller all its own.  You won't ever look at the quiet girl in the next cubicle again without wondering if she watches you as you sleep...

Check out other reviews of The Trajectory of Dreams:
A Bookworm Belle
Radish Reviews
Too Fond
A Book And A Review