King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Pretty

author: Jillian Lauren

genre: fiction

published: August 2011

source: ARC from LibraryThing


first line: How I got here the longer version is a longer story than I want to tell.


rated: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars








About:

Pretty is an edgy novel about a teenage girl named Bebe who leaves home with a musician named Aaron and ends up becoming a stripper and an addict. Aaron and Bebe's partying habits are out of control, they both drink too much and use drugs. One night, after a big fight between the two, Aaron is killed while driving under the influence. Bebe survives the car accident, but finds herself in a rehab facility trying to get her life together.

After she finishes rehab, Bebe goes to live at a halfway house. The house offers free training at a beauty school in order to help its inhabitants better themselves and become functioning members of society.

Throughout the story you get a glimpse of Bebe's life while she finishes up cosmetology school. She starts to date a fellow rehab patient, a paranoid schizophrenic named Jake. Except for her friends, Bebe is alone in the world, her mother being an addict herself and no help to her.



My thoughts:

I found Pretty to start off really interestingly enough. Here is this young woman who has been through alot, nearly dying in a car accident, then going to rehab and trying to get clean.
Then I found the story to fizzle a bit in the middle. I was tired of hearing about Bebe's cosmetology school and the different beauty techniques she was learning.
Her fellow classmates and halfway house inhabitants did interest me as I read. These were characters who had lost their way but banded together to help each other out.


Bebe's new boyfriend Jake was disturbing to read about, especially when he would go on his rants about religion. He is a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks he is Jesus. I found it surprising that Bebe didn't recognize his symptoms as out of control and dangerous while she was dating him.



There are flashbacks throughout the book, but I didn't find them to be confusing, they blended in well with the storyline and gave more of a backdrop as to where Bebe was coming from.



"Pretty" is a main theme as you read. Bebe herself is tall and beautiful, yet is now covered in scars after the car accident.

So now I am a pretty much ex-everything. Ex-Christian, ex-stripper, ex-drug addict, ex-pretty girl. Or rather I am half a pretty girl. I am mostly not so bad from the waist up, but my hands and my legs are a bird's nest of smooth, pink keloid scars.

A bucket of worms is what my legs look like. I keep them covered and try not to think about them, not so much because of vanity as because they remind me of all that's irreparable.

p. 27

I thought this novel was young adult fiction, but after reading it, I'd say it's best for ages seventeen and up. There is graphic language throughout as well as a descriptive stripping scene in one of Bebe's flashbacks.






The story picked up toward the last part of the book, when a few twists are added and I was curious as to how it would all end.

For the most part, a well written plot and interesting characters made Pretty a worthwhile read. This was my first time reading Jillian Lauren and hopefully not my last.




I'll close my review with my favorite passage in the book.

Regret perches like an umbrella over all of my days. All I do is look up and see its spiny inside. An invisible hand grips my heart just a little too tight and squeezes every time a memory washes over me.
p.170

About the author:




Author and performer Jillian Lauren grew up in suburban New Jersey and fled across the water to New York City. She attended New York University for three minutes before dropping out to work in downtown theater, where she performed with Richard Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric Theater, among others.


Her New York Times bestselling memoir, SOME GIRLS: My Life in a Harem, was published by Plume in April 2010. It has since been translated into fourteen different languages.


Her novel, PRETTY, will be released on August 30, 2011.

title: Netsuke

author: Rikki Ducornet


genre: fiction

published: 2011

pages: 127

source: ARC from librarything

first line: Although it is still very early, the wealth of the day is upon him.



rated: 5 out of 5 stars









Netsuke is the story about a married psychiatrist who sleeps with his patients. The narrative is lyrical and at times blunt and this novella was an unexpected gem.


Author Rikki Ducornet does an excellent job at getting inside
the doctor's mind and at expressing his thoughts. This psychiatrist is unwilling to stop cheating on his wife and has been living this secret life for many years.



He seems to want his wife to find out about his infidelities, he drops clues often, but she turns a blind eye.
The wife, Akiko, is a successful artist, often away due to her work. This is the doctor's third marriage and the couple live well off because of their professions.
The doctors lovers all have issues and he seems to enjoy playing with fire this way. One of his partners is a young woman who cuts herself, another is a cross-dresser. He has no shame in his sexual encounters, whether they occur in his office or in his home. He even schedules his affairs into his week on a regular basis, i.e. Fridays afternoons are kept open for sex with patients.



The doctor himself is despicable, not only is he unfaithful, but he is taking advantage of his patients. I couldn't help but be sucked into this story and was curious as to whether he would get caught. He was unstable and impulsive, and
his actions kept shocking me until the final page. When he wants to impress a patient, he goes out and buys new clothes, bringing his wife along for her opinion.

I felt he both loved and hated his wife. He resents her for his own unfaithful ways, blaming her for his behavior. His complex character is what made the story. I found it ironic that the doctor was the one that needed the therapy.




This is the type of book that you read slowly. Some of the passages were poetic, and I found myself re-reading them. Due to the subject matter, I found this to be very impressive. I also found it impressive that for being just 127 pages long, this was heavy reading. This is not the type of book you read in a single sitting.

But always the clock strikes. The knife falls. In love I am only blind. There is no knowledge there. No purifying fire. A moment's bliss and then: the mule brays.

p.37

I should mention that there is graphic language used in this story, I know some readers would veer away from that. Sex is a main theme in this book. I didn't mind the explicit language, I felt that it added to the straightforwardness and darkness of the story.


Rikki Ducornet is an interesting writer and a poet, and I would definitely read her work again.




The word Netsuke actually means 'miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function'. Check out the wiki page for photos and info on Netsuke. In this story, the doctor collects these sculptures and displays them in his office.



About the author:

Rikki Ducornet is the author of two short-story collections, five books of poetry, and seven novels, including The Fan-Maker’s Inquisition and The Jade Cabinet. She is also a painter whose work has been exhibited widely.

title: Wish Her Safe At Home

author: Stephen Benatar

published: 1982

genre: fiction/classic

pages: 263

rated: 4 out of 5







Wish Her Safe At Home was at times funny, sometimes odd, a bit sad and sometimes disturbing.





Rachel Waring is in her mid-forties, lives in London, has a job she dislikes and rents an apartment with her outspoken, chain-smoking roommate.


When Rachel's aunt passes away and leaves her a mansion in Bristol, everyone expects Rachel to sell the large house or to rent it out, instead she decides to move in. She leaves London behind, much to her roomates dismay and dislike.

As the story flows, Rachel has flashbacks about her past, mostly about her mother. You get to know that her childhood wasn't an easy one. Her mother was overbearing and cold. She hints that her father molested her.




Once she arrives in Bristol, you see how she interacts with people she meets and their reactions toward her, which are sometimes strange and a bit detached. Rachel is also a bit innapropriate at times when speaking to others. You kind of get the sense that she doesn't fit in, and is awkward in social situations. She tends to try too hard to be funny, or friendly when dealing with others. You also get the feeling that her perception of things isn't really on point. It's almost like she lives in her own little world.

As the book flows the reader gets to see what is going on in Rachel's mind and it is a read that is really hard to put down, especially towards the end. There are a few 'OMG!' moments. One thing that really creeped me out about this book is that since Rachel is narrating the story, the reader is seeing it through her point of view. The reader can only guess as to what is actually happening.








I did find the book hard to follow during some parts and found myself re-reading certain bits, mostly because Rachel would flashback, then flashforward to the present time and conversation. At other times I would re-read passages just to savor them.



I enjoyed Rachel's sarcasm. In this passage, Rachel's roomate asks her what's left for her to do now that she's leaving her job and moving to Bristol:

"Without your job what have you left? What shred of dignity?"


Without Mr.Danby, you mean, and the clocking-in each morning and the clocking-out each evening (they sort of almost trusted you at lunchtime) and the boring day-to-day routine and the banal repetitive conversations and the yawns and the silly jokes and the waiting about in wet weather for a bus that, even supposing it stopped, you knew you'd have to fight to get on? Not to speak of that Monday-morning feeling which inevitably marred much of Sunday afternoon? (With the exception-fairly unsurprisingly-of this one; it was hardly the shadow of tomorrow that was beclouding things at present.) And the alarm clock set for 6:30 on five days out of seven? Yes, indeed. Without all that, what had you left?

Rachel refers alot to books, films and music. Sometimes this was nice, sometimes it was creepy. I liked this one passage:

The topmost rooms had an air of Dickens. You almost expected to see Miss Havisham sitting solitary in the twilight, always the spinster in her wedding dress, swatched in cobwebs and depression.

It was like a museum with no curator to disturb the dust.

I recommend this book if you want to read something a little different. This is a story that begs to be discussed. It's the kind of book that haunts the reader long after the last page is turned.

Yes this was a happy day. Not one for letting in the glooms. I picked up my bill, totted up the figures.

And, after all, it was hardly as though I'd ever won a beauty contest, was it? Therefore no real reason to suppose that-if I hadn't been stuck at home-I'd had been whisked off by some gentleman like Mr.Darcy or Rhett Butler or Jervis Pendleton.

No real reason at all.

Special thanks to library thing for sending me a copy of Wish Her Safe At Home.

**First review of 2010 :) **


title: Await Your Reply

author: Dan Chaon

genre: fiction/suspense

pages: 324

published: 2009

first line: We are on our way to the hospital, Ryan's father says.

rated: 4 out of 5






Await Your Reply is a story about three strangers whose lives are intertwined. At first you don't know how these peoples lives are connected, but as you keep reading, the truth is slowly revealed.



Lucy leaves her small hometown in Ohio and runs away with her older History teacher with dreams of starting a wonderful new life. He takes her to a deserted house in Nebraska in the middle of nowhere and Lucy starts to notice his odd behavior. Soon enough Lucy finds a large sum of money hidden in his study, and begins to wonder if the man she loves isn't who he says he is.





Ryan has just found out a disturbing secret about his parents and decides to run away. He leaves the University he attends hoping to start a new life. He finds his long lost father and winds up getting involved in some shady business.



Miles and Hayden are twin brothers. Hayden is troubled, he is a paranoid schizophrenic. Miles is searching for his brother who has been missing for 10 years.
As the story unfolds, he begins to put together pieces of the puzzle and gets closer to finding his long lost twin.




This is the type of book you can read in one sitting, I really enjoyed it. This is also one of those books you can read when you don't know what you're in the mood to read next. Do you know what I mean? When you just want to read a good story, something that will grab and hold your attention.




The pages just flow smoothly and before you know it you are completely emmersed in the plot. The storyline keeps you guessing as to what is going on and you begin to wonder about the characters. As I was reading, I felt like I was unraveling clues in the story. Dan Chaon really keeps you guessing until the very end.

This was what real grief felt like-she had never truly felt it before. All the times she had been sad, all the times she had wept in her life, all the glooms and melancholies were merely moods, mere passing whims. Grief was a different thing altogether.

Special thanks to library thing for sending me an ARC of Await Your Reply.



This book has also been reviewed by The Book Zombie

title: Rain Song

author: Alice J. Wisler

genre: fiction/christian romance

published: 2008

pages: 195

first line: When they suggest changing the location of the family reunion, I am first to speak.



rated: 3 1/2 out of 5




Nicole Michelin is a middle school English teacher in her thirties. She was born in Japan to missionary parents, but her mother died when she was a young child and her father, who suffers from depression, never talks about it. He raised her in North Carolina where Nicole currently lives. She is very close to her grandma Ducee and her best friend Grable.








Nicole runs a website where she gives out help and info about caring for fish. A man named Harrison Michaels from Japan emails her one day and the two begin corresponding through email on a daily basis. As the story goes on, Nicole finds herself falling for Harrison and asks him for a photo, which he happily sends to her. But shortly after, Nicole doesn't get an email from Harrison for a few days. She wonders what is wrong. Then one day, Harrison emails her a single line:
'Nicole, my mother remembers the night you were born.'

Nicole herself knows little about her mother, yet always wonders and misses her dearly.



Stunned, Nicole realizes Harrison's mother must have known her own mother. She decides she needs to overcome her fear of flying and go to Japan to search out answers.





I thought Rain Song was a touching read. I found myself wanting Nicole to overcome her fears, hop on the plane to Japan, find out about her mother and find Harrison.



Here are a few of my favorite passages:

Putting on my short, brown suede coat, I head outside to sit on the brick step by my front door. Sitting outside calms me. Some folks do yoga or listen to music; I watch the stars. Tonight they are out-shiny, glittering, beckoning and so far way.

As a child, I used to watch the stars and try to determine which one was heaven's doorknob.

I still am not sure I can actually go through with this, but the truth is, i've gone too far now to go back. It's as if I was once happily swimming in one stream but a warm current suddenly caused me to turn and change my direction. I was a fighting fish at first, not wanting to be transported to anything different and unusual. Now I'm enjoying this new current, even though I know that down the stream, I may be faced with some dissapointing waters. I know because this is life, life with its fleeting moments of happiness.

Shame on me, I received this book as an ARC from library thing over a year ago, and I just now got around to reading it.

title: Marco Flamingo

author: Sheila Jarkins

genre: childrens

pages: 31

published: 2008

rated: 5 out of 5

Meet Marco. He is just regular flamingo with regular flamingo friends. There is just one problem. Marco wants to be a winter bird. Every year he watches his geese friends fly south to get out of the cold. He cannot understand them because this is just the thing he is craving. Watch what happens when he travels north for the winter. Storyline is presented in both English and Spanish. A keyword bilingual vocabulary page is included to jumpstart learning. Soft pink watercolors of summer move to the blues of winter as you almost feel the climate change. Marco is full of expression and excited in this journey of following your dreams.

My daughter(8) was very happy when we got a copy of Marco Flamingo in the mail.
She quickly read it to me. It's the story of Marco, a flamingo who wants to see what will happen if he flies North for the winter.

Below I have quoted my daughters thoughts on the book:

I loved it. I think all the kids around the world would like to read this book. I like the part when Marco the Flamingo flew North. I like it because it is a fun and happy story. The pictures are colorful. I am going to read this book eight more times.

When I asked her how would she rate it, 1-5 stars, she said 5.










The storyline is fun, and the book has some great illustrations. This is a great one for the younger kids.










If you're looking for a holiday gift for a young reader, grab a copy of this book!



I received a copy of Marco Flamingo from library thing