Books

i love books. i have been reading alot lately, if you've noticed the column to the left over there showing what's beside my bed. this week i read four books.

you could wonder how the heck i read four books with all my stay-at-home responsibilities but its really because these books weren't the best. superman would probably say he could tell i was reading cuz there was alot of clean laundry laying around needing folded but i think that's pretty much the norm for me.

i am dying to say some stuff about what i read and that is why i am skipping my #10. i'll do it soon though i promise. i really need to get my feelings about these books off my chest.

the first book i read was "A Nest of Sparrows" by Deborah Raney. this was probably the best book i read in terms of the story and plot. it was a book that my library considers an "inspirational" read...their definition of christian or clean reads. it was just that. a christian novel about a guy whose fiancee dies and he trys to adopt her three kids, who he has helped raised for three years. he fights the abusive biological father for custody when the father decides he wants his kids back for the insurance money he will inherit with them. it was uplifting and entertaining; an easy read that i thought was plausible. the characters' grief was real and it had a happy ending. not one i'd put on my exceptional list but i would recommend it if you just need something nice to read to take your mind of whatever.

the next book i delved into is "Haunting Olivia" by Janelle Taylor. this book was retarded. it read like one of those Lifetime movies or ABC Family Dramas. the title for me is completely misleading. though the idea of this story is interesting enough, there is no depth to the characters. for the most part, the characters are shallow and vindictive. the "heroic" ones are plain cheesy. this book ended up being about "mean girl" drama and small town judgementalism. i hated it. plus, about 90 pages in, the author decides to insert a disgusting and completely inappropiate example of a love scene (don't worry i skipped over it) but i had to skip over three more of them, which ruins this book for teens. if it weren't for the R-rated love scenes, this would make an entertaining YA read though not quality. just entertaining. but like i said, the love scenes were gross. i am judging by a word or two i saw, ok? take my word for it. do not waste your time reading this.

the third book i tackled was Richard F. Wright's new book "The Cross Gardener". i found some things in this book completely unrealistic. the way the women suddenly go into labor and give birth in an hour on the roadside seems completely absurd. even if an accident caused a placental abruption which could trigger quick and rapid labor, i still do not think these characters would have had time to give birth on the side of the road before getting loaded into ambulances.

this author has no clue how to demonstrate true pain (as with the prego ladies...they would have been in excruciating pain if this really was placenta abruptio) or true grief. he basically portrays the grieving husband as a zombie who never crys, never is angry, does not express his guilt, and though the author touches on the guilt and pain the kid is feeling, he could have gone into so much more detail and shown more how the dad and kid cope together with their grief by having more dialogue. though the kid goes mute, there isn't much if any attempt on the father's part to understand her grief. maybe that was the author's point...to show how some people get so selfishly absorbed in their own grief that they don't see anyone else's. except this character's grief was too "numb" for me. i guess i like more drama.

another tidbit but i have to be careful here. a huge part of this book was about the mysterious "cross gardener", this young man who tends all the crosses around those parts. he makes sure the weeds are pulled and the paint is touched up. he and the main character develop a relationship that is meant to help the main guy heal but in the end it reveals who the cross gardener is and it totally ruined the book for me. it was so far fetched...it made me wonder if the main character was crazy or...why did he create this character?....was it a figment of the dad's imagination?...did his grief drive him to make up the cross gardener? it was weird and confusing and i did not appreciate it.

and something i have to say about Richard F. Wright's acknowledgements to his children. he says, "Also to my children: Oakli, Jadi, Kason, and Koleson for keeping Mom sane while I travel."
Huh? keeping mom sane? seriously, buddy, i guarantee your wife was not at home sane with four children while you were on the road for weeks at a time doing book signings. if she was, then kudos to her for being a perfect, little wonderwoman housewife. i have a feeling this guy doesn't have a clue, not even a close iota to what kind of sacrifices his wife has made for him and their children. this just riles me up, cancha tell? i thought that was presumptuous of him to say but i will also acknowledge this comment is presumtuous and judgemental...i just thought how ignorant of him. ok i'll stop now. like i said, i had some things to get off my chest.

if you are intrigued, then give it whirl but don't say i didn't warn that you might be disappointed.

still one more book to go here. it is "The Red Garden" by Alice Hoffman. this book is pretty well reviewed on Amazon.com. it is exactly what people have said about it, reads like a compilation of short stories. each story tells of a character or two or three and their experiences with this town, Blackwell. Why it is called "The Red Garden"...i'm not sure. there is a garden with red soil that can only grow "red" plants and plants that produce red stuff (tomatoes, radishes, watermelons, ect.). the garden isn't in every story though. the jacket cover says the town centers around this garden but i found that the town centered more around its history of bears and apple trees not to mention the founding families. most the characters experience tradgedy or loss and as a result some people have rated this book as being depressing.

while i enjoyed each story, it did make the ending awkward for me because there was no real plot, climax, or anti-climax to this book. there is some love-making in this book but i didn't find it disgusting, gross, and inappropiate like in "Haunting Olivia". if you don't like any sort of lovin' (if you are a very particulary prude reader) this is my warning. maybe a better way to put this is i didn't find the lovin' to be pornagraphic in nature. "Haunting Olivia" was definately pornagraphic.

what i enjoyed most about this book is alice hoffman's talent as a writer. this especially stood out after those other three books. her prose is wonderful to read and i liked the fantasy feel of the stories. the book was very imaginative and enjoyable to me. i would probably catalog this book as a fantasy or a folklorish type of book. i would recommend this for the quality of writing alone.

that feels better.
the end. happy reading.