I had such high hopes for this book. I actually set it aside after the first fifty pages because I didn’t want it to go by too quickly. This was a book I wanted to savor.

At least, I thought so.

The Little Book follows Wheeler Burden as he somehow travels from 1988 California to 1897 Vienna. He has to learn how to orient himself and figure out who it is safe to befriend. How involved can he become without changing the course of history? Of course, that question is not easily answered.

It’s also a question that is extremely common if you’re reading a book about time travel. Edwards does handle it well, giving bits and pieces away that only all make sense at the end. But what really sets this book apart is Vienna. The Little Book is an ode to turn-of-the-century Vienna. Selden Edwards clearly loves this city in the time period. There was certainly a lot of research that went into the writing of this book. And that is what drew me in so completely in the first fifty pages.

What lost my interest as the book continued, however, is that not much happened. There was a lot of talking. A love affair. Lots and lots of flashbacks. An occasional plot twist. But really, nothing happened. It turned out to be kind of a boring book. I’m really sorry to say that, because there were pieces of it that were brilliant. And I did love experiencing Vienna in its golden age. But by the end, I didn’t care that much about the characters and I was tired of waiting for something to happen.

I guess this is just one of those books for which I loved the potential, but not the reality.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

I read (more or less) three books on Saturday's 24-hour readathon. I had every intention of being a good little blogger and writing my reviews right away so I wouldn't get too far behind. Yeah, didn't happen. Reading was much more fun than writing reviews. But I don't want to ignore the books altogether, so I thought I would try some more two sentence reviews.

I really didn't know much about this book before I read it. I knew William Faulkner was one of our great American authors, which is why I added this book to my Classics Club list. I knew he used a stream-of-consciousness writing style. And that's pretty much it.

Maybe it would have helped if I knew more about it before I read it. But if I had known more about it, I probably never would have read it at all.

There are many people out there who will disagree with me, but I have to be honest about my reaction. I strongly disliked this book, and I don't understand why it's a classic.

The stream-of-consciousness thing wasn't so bad. It did make the first chapter hard to follow, although that was more because it was narrated by mentally challenged Benji, who really didn't have a clear idea of what was going on anyway. (Sidenote: That made it extremely hard to figure out who was who at the beginning. Especially when a character I thought was male was suddenly referred to as "she." What?? At least that made sense eventually, as I kept reading.)

The stream-of-consciousness style was interesting. That wasn't what troubled me about this book. My problem is that this book is essentially about incest. Why would you feel a need to write a book about that? And is that supposed to be the part that's so profound that this book becomes a classic? The family's troubled. I get it. But that didn't make me feel attached to them or want to cheer for them. It made me want to yell, "Get it together already!"

There's a quote from Malcolm Cowley on the back of my copy. It says, "Faulkner performed a labor of imagination that has not been equaled in our time. . . First, to invent a Mississippi county that was like a mythical kingdom, but was complete and living in all its details; second, to make his story of Yoknapatawpha County stand as a parable or legend of all the Deep South."

A parable of all the Deep South? I think if I lived in the South, I would be highly insulted at the idea that this book represents me. That probably just means that I didn't really understand the depths of this book at all. But really, I'm okay with that.

   -  It swears. A lot. And I know there are those that say, "If I were stuck on Mars, I would swear too!" I get that viewpoint. But the problem is, he's not the only one that swears. There's plenty of swearing from other characters as well. I hate filling my brain with that.
   -  This book is a time-sucker. Make sure you have time to devote to it, because you are not going to want to put it down. Which leads to neglecting things, like your job. . . or your spouse. . .
   -  Parts of it are written as journal entries. Personally, that worked for me, but it's not a style that works for everybody.

   -  There's a movie coming out in a few weeks. Quick, read it before you see the movie!
   -  If you are looking for a character with a unique voice, you can do no better than Mark Watney. His journal entries read like he is talking to you. And astronaut nerd though he may be, he's a pretty funny guy.
   -  You actually kind of learn something about science and Mars. That's always a nice bonus.
   -  The plot. The incessant plot that keeps you turning the pages. This book is so hard to put down!!
   -  It literally keeps you guessing until the very last page.
   -  Mark Watney is a character that you simply have to root for. He's so well-written, you're pretty much given no choice. Who knew you could cheer so hard for potatoes to grow?

In all the reviews I read when I was trying to decide, the swearing was what put me off the most. And the swearing definitely did bother me throughout the book (I still think it would be a better book without it). But at the end of the day, I am glad I decided to read it. I'm glad I met Mark Watney and was so thoroughly drawn into this story.

Please share your thoughts and comments, whether you've read The Martian or not!

(Warning: This review is going to be rather rave-like.)

Everything about this book is amazing. Seriously, everything. I don’t say that often, so you know it’s true.

I do have to temper that, however, by saying that this book may appeal to only a small audience of bibliophile word nerds, like me. So if that description applies to you, then by all means, read this book.

Ella Minnow Pea (say her name out loud, and you’ll get a hint of the wordy wonders to be found in this book) lives on the island of Nollop, off the East Coast. The island was founded by Nevin Nollop, the creator of “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” He’s so looked up to on the island, in fact, that they have created a monument to him and his amazing sentence. And then one day, the Z falls off. The Nollopian High Council declares that the letter Z is henceforth banned from use in speaking or writing. Since the novel is an epistolary novel, you can imagine how that affects the story. And then when you discover that Z is just the first of the letters to fall, you can look forward in delight to the language hijinks that will ensue. And let’s give Mark Dunn all the credit he’s due – this must have been a progressively difficult book to write.

Let me repeat that this book is amazing. Hopefully I’ve convinced you of that. The word geek in me was jumping up and down at each page, and surely I can’t be the only one who was affected by this book in this way.

Word lovers unite, and join Ella Minnow Pea!

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

I've read a lot of books lately, but haven't written many reviews. In order to catch up a little, I thought I would challenge myself to put my thoughts succinctly. One sentence of summary, one sentence of review. We'll see how well this works. (I tend to be a wordy person. . .)

Completely unplanned, I happened to read two books set in the 1990s practically back-to-back. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 90s doesn't seem to be a very common setting. I really enjoy reading books set in the 90s because it reminds me just how far we've come in the past 20 years. Even though I lived through these changes, it's hard to see it in perspective unless we're reminded what life was like back then.

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff is a nonfiction memoir, although it really reads like a novel. Fresh out of grad school, Rakoff lands a job at a literary agency in New York City. But not just any agency - they have the reclusive J.D. Salinger as one of their clients! Through Rakoff's experiences, we get a look not only at how literary agencies worked at the time, but also what life was like in NYC. We run the gamut from one of the fanciest hotels to her little apartment that didn't come with a sink - or heat. Rakoff does a fabulous job of recreating the atmosphere of NYC in the 90s, as well as telling a story full of books and authors.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell is really set on the cusp of the new millennium. Lincoln works for the IT department of a newspaper. It's his job to monitor employees' computer and email usage, which means reading other people's emails. This leads to a slight addiction to reading the emails sent between Beth and Jennifer. Which leads to more than a slight crush on Beth. What exactly are the ethics in a situation like this? (It's also Lincoln's job to prepare for Y2K - remember that panic that was all for absolutely nothing?) In a book that's told half through emails, it's amazing how Rowell can make her characters leap off the page. Just like the YA novels I've read by her, I swear that Beth and Jennifer and Lincoln have to be living their lives somewhere in this world right now.
Rowell leaves you guessing to the very end, but you never stop cheering for these characters who have become your friends.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

I have no problem admitting that I am an Anglophile. I've been to England four times. I would probably move there if I could. And yes, I loved the fairy-tale wedding of Will and Kate. And I will look at pictures of their adorable children any day.

So when The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan crossed my radar, it immediately went on my TBR list. I'm really not much of a sappy romantic, but didn't every little girl dream about getting swept away by a prince at some point?

The Royal We pleasantly surprised me, though, in being so much more than fairy-tale romance. It's understandably being linked to Will & Kate a lot, but it is much more than thinly veiled fan fiction. Here's why:

1. There are characters that make mistakes. I know it's part of being the royal family and all, but don't they always seem so perfect? Like they can never do anything wrong, although we all know better. Nick and Bex are clearly fallible humans just like us, complete with plenty of bad choices.

2. We see the good and the bad. The romantic moments and the fights. The confessions of love and the break-ups. This is not just a story about two people falling in love. This is the story of a relationship and what it takes to make that work.

3. We get a taste of what goes into making someone the picture-perfect princess. And what a sacrifice that must be for everyone who lives in the spotlight like that.

This book is much more than Cinderella meets the prince. It's even a lot more than Kate Middleton meets the prince. If you're looking for a book about a relationship, not just a love story, then this is the one.

I recently read two books set in the Victorian time period. (Well, sort of. One took place in an alternate world, so it was kind of hard to tell, but the culture seemed Victorian.)

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan was published in 2013. The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl was published in 2015. And yet, they both read like they were written in the late nineteenth century. Published as contemporary novels. Written as Victorian ones. An intriguing paradox.

A Natural History of Dragons is the first volume in the memoirs of Lady Trent. It tells of her childhood and marriage, but most importantly, it tells of her passion for dragons. Women at the time were not supposed to be passionate about dragons. They were supposed to host parties and do needlework. Somehow, she convinces her husband to take her along on an excursion to see dragons in the mountains of a nearby country. And that's where danger and politics and greed enter in.

I love dragons. And I especially love a well-developed world where dragons make sense. A Natural History of Dragons has both of those things. The dragons are simply another type of wild animal, just like lions or deer. It's just that very little is known about them scientifically. That's a perfectly plausible set up for a world full of dragons. Because the book was written in a more Victorian style, it seemed occasionally slow-paced. But there was plenty of intrigue (and dragons!) to keep you invested in the story, all the way to the very end.

The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl takes place just before the first international copyright laws come into effect. Which means, for the time being, whoever gets to an author's manuscript first can make a tidy profit. These are the bookaneers, and the two most famous of them are racing to get Robert Louis Stevenson's next novel, supposedly his masterpiece. Of course, Stevenson didn't make it any easier for them by moving to Samoa, an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Again, the Victorian style set me back a bit here. For a book that is essentially about pirates, it was rather less. . . swash-buckling than I would have expected. We hear the story from the bookaneer's companion, told to his young friend several years after the adventure. The story probably would have had more impact being told directly as it was happening. Even so, I enjoyed the concept of book pirates. I enjoyed learning about the island of Samoa and Robert Louis Stevenson's time there. It's an unusual book, made even more so by its style of narration. Even with that quirk, it was still a pretty great adventure.

I don't honestly remember how I first stumbled across The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens. My guess would be a review from a fellow book blogger. But I've actually seen very little in the blogosphere about The Books of Beginning series. It could have just been a random library find. I guess it doesn't really matter, though, how I discovered this series in the first place. The point of this post is that you need to read them, too.

Here's why:

1. Kate, Michael, and Emma are the heroes of the series. They've been sent from orphanage to orphanage, believing that the parents that abandoned them would never come back for them. And yet, despite - or because of - that, they cling to each other with ferocity. Their love for each other is what gives these books their heart.

2. Just because they love each other doesn't mean they always get along. John Stephens perfectly captures sibling interactions (maybe he stole these from his own kids?). The dialogue between the siblings seem so authentic.

3. Plot twists like you wouldn't believe. When you add time travel and magic to the mix, anything can happen.

4. There are three siblings and three books - each character gets a chance to shine in their own book, but the plots are entwined throughout the series.

5. It's an extremely satisfying series. I just read the third book in the trilogy, which is what prompted me to write this post (I reviewed the first book when I read it a couple of years ago). This is a series that will not let you down. I'm not saying it won't make you cry. I'm just saying the author did a good job of upholding the integrity of the series.

6. These books are funny. Elves and dwarves and their rivalries provide comic relief, as do the siblings' interactions and teasing. I laughed out loud more than once. This alone could hook any middle grade reader, and it certainly hooked me.

Even though I teach fourth grade, I really don't read much middle grade fiction. But this was a series I could not put down and I could not forget about. I couldn't wait for the third book to be released this year, and I devoured it as soon as I could. If you like Narnia or The Hobbit or Harry Potter - or if you would just like to meet some really great kids - then you should most definitely read The Books of Beginning by John Stephens!