Against All Odds - Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Still Missing chronicles Annie's horrific abduction and imprisonment by a lunatic she calls The Freak, as told to her "shrink". Each chapter represents a therapy session, as Annie understandably needs a great deal of help processing her ordeal. It's clear from the very beginning that Annie's case has generated 24-hour news cycle notoriety, though the circumstances of her homecoming are only given to us in pieces during her sessions. How did Annie get away? Is the cops' investigation ongoing? Can Annie's relationship with her boyfriend survive? Can her parents and best friend find a way to support her and help her heal? How could someone ever heal from such tragedy?

I liked a lot of things about this book. The pacing was great. Annie's keen observational skills were believable, adding a lot of terror to her reports of The Freak's behavior. And though Annie suffers brutality beyond measure, Stevens doesn't present a damsel in distress.

This was my blizzard read, so my rating reflects just what a perfect choice this was...a twisty page-turner was just what Mother Nature ordered. The plot points are rather obvious at times. Annie's rather brash demeanor is a bit incongruous with her trauma and circumstances. The therapy angle isn't necessary and there's not a lot of originality here. But did I eat this up like so much snow cream? Indeed, I did. Sometimes there's a book that you know you shouldn't like as much as you did, but against all odds the timing and circumstance works out for a great read.

Sharing too too much of the plot would take away from your potential inclement weather fun, so I'll just say that I give this 4 snowflakes out of 5.

This review is also posted at: http://cannonballread.com/2016/01/against-all-odds/ ‎Cannonball Read is a race to read and review 52 books in a year, hosted by many followers of entertainment site pajiba.com

How are ANY of them alive?! - Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

“Why build an audience for the Ramones or the Pistols or the Clash? Why institutionalize them if they’re just going to be destroyed, if it’s their nature to destroy others and to destroy themselves?”

I have no idea how Iggy Pop is alive.

It took Bowie’s death to remind me that I’d wanted to read this book for years. I was not disappointed….this was a wild ride. I was hooked from the opening two paragraphs, where we start off with Lou Reed and the formation of the Velvet Underground. The book moves on to Iggy and the Stooges, the New York Dolls, the Ramones, and touches on the Sex Pistols and the British punk scene.

As the title promises, this is an oral history…each chapter is a collection of excerpts from decades of interviews with the main players in the American punk scene. The chapters move in chronological order, but the huge cast of characters makes it a bit hard to track, especially if you “meet” someone in the early chapters and then don’t hear from them again for a period of years. Thankfully, there’s a handy list of bios in the back so you can keep everyone straight.

I know nothing about punk, so as a non-fan I can still say that I thoroughly enjoyed this history lesson. Nothing is held back about the trysts and drug use. I find the music culture of the early seventies fascinating…the way in which these people became legends is insanely streamlined compared to what people go through today. My favorite passage concerned Iggy and the Stooges’ first gig and their creativity in the face of a lack of instruments. And I honestly have no idea how any of them are alive (most aren’t). Everyone was sleeping with everyone, no drug stone lay unturned, no regard for personal safety ever seemed to come into play.

While the structure took some adjusting, this is a solid recommendation for fans of rock, countercultures, or really seedy stories.

4 stars out of 5.

I Say Ya Kill Your Heroes and Fly - Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

"Kill your darlings" never felt this personal. 

Though published decades after the perfect To Kill A Mockingbird, this novel was written first.  I think it's important to keep reminding yourself of that fact if you start to feel that Lee has *changed Atticus*.  Watchman finds the adult Jean Louise, our beloved Scout, coming back to Maycomb County from the big city, and becoming disillusioned with the politics and bigotry of her hometown. She comes to question her relationship with her father, Atticus.  In many ways, this is another coming-of-age novel, though a different age than Mockingbird. Many of us reach our twenties and find that maybe our parents aren't the idols we had thought.

I felt very apprehensive about reading this, and that unease isn't lifted now that I've finished. This isn't a great novel. But there are moments where I absolutely reveled in Lee's prose and voice. The scene between the adult Jean Louise and her former housekeeper Calpurnia in Calpurnia's home was particularly amazing. Jean Louise's discovery that her father may not be perfect and may not share her worldview was difficult to process, as I share her adoration of Atticus. 
 
I thought about a 3- rating, but that lumps this book with so many "just ok" books that I won't remember. Or that weren't affecting. Reading this book was affecting. Disturbingly so, as my view of beloved characters was challenged and changed. So, it seems that once again Lee has made her point.

4 stars out of 5.

What Took Me So Long!?! - Bossypants by Tina Fey

I am a big Tina Fey fan.  I am one of the three people who still faithfully watch (Ok, DVR) SNL every week AND think it's funny and I've done so for most of my life.  I never missed a 30 Rock.  I've read magazine articles, movie reviews, watched Tina's hosting gigs....but it took me for-ev-ah to read Bossypants.  My book club chose it as our summer read and I'm so glad that they did.  Upon some reflection, it turns out that due to my skyscraper pededstal view of Ms. Fey, I was afraid that a whole book might knock some of the stars out of my eyes.  I needn't have worried!


This book is not just a fantastic look at one of America's brightest women, but it also counts as an ab workout.  I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt and I annoyed my beachgoing family.  It's fair to point out that I share Ms. Fey's dry humor, self-deprecating spirit, and I'm roughly the same age: all factors that might make this book more relatable, but I can't imagine anyone wouldn't laugh at these chapters.  It does read like a collection of essays, and I had read one or two before in my super-fandom.  It's also fair to say that if you are a big fan, you won't necessarily know more about Tina Fey from reading this.  She shares hilarious stories and some of the "secrets of success" but she (wisely, IMO) keeps her private life veiled to a degree.

It would be hard for me to pin a favorite chapter, but the stories of her honeymoon and magazine photo shoots and the chapter about her father were real stand-outs.

All the stars! 5 out of 5.

Being A Parent Is Terrifying Enough - Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

I wanted a page-turner and that's what I got. 

Kate's teenage daughter Amelia has jumped from the roof of her school after a cheating scandal. Or maybe that's not what happened, and Kate, a successful lawyer and single mom, decides to investigate as she comes out of the fog of her grief.


The alternating timelines and POVs make for a suspenseful read, but the plot is a bit ridiculous once you look back. Several times during my reading I felt manipulated as a woman and mother. 


I've decided that publishers are pushing what I'll call "mom horror". Books like Defending Jacob and Reconstructing Amelia suck you in by preying on your very worst mom fears, but when the ride is over and you look back, you see that the fear was really preposterous. The silliness of the timing and intensity of the drama surrounding Amelia was hard to overlook once I finally closed the book.

3 stars.

Turns Out I'm An Old Adult - Unteachable by Leah Raeder

Unteachable by Leah Raeder

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



While I've been hearing a lot about the New Adult genre, this is my first NA title and now I'm pretty sure that I'm light years from the target audience. I'm an Evan, not a Maise. I'm also not a romance reader, so I had hoped for this to be a little more of a psychological drama instead of a romance, because teacher/student=ick.

Maise is 18, and meets Evan (early 30s) at the local fair.  They fall in love (lust?) in 30 seconds on a roller coaster (of course).  Once Maise heads back to school she discovers that Evan is her teacher, which adds a wrinkle to their budding lustship.  Never mind!  Maise is broken and smart and dangerous and Evan makes her feel all better and helps her come alive.  I never figured out any of Evan's personality traits, other than "hot" (Maise's interpretation) and shady (mine).  Hot sex ensues. Few conversations take place that are not about the status of their relationship.  Blech.

After finishing this I still can't come up with a single reason that Maise likes Evan. He's hot and it's fun to be risky? She feels different when she's with him? That's all I got, and it wasn't enough to make me care about their journey. I would have been much more interested in an evaluation of Evan's shady behavior.

I think this is really popular among the target audience, so we can chalk this review up to (a) I'm old and (b) I really hate romance novels.  But I will keep trying to find one that I like!



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"Mom, what's the 'gadget'?" - The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I read this book aloud to my 9yo and neither of us really loved it.

Set in the 1940s in New Mexico at the site of the Manhattan Project, this historical fiction deals with a subject that certainly is not familiar to most children today: WWII and the atomic bomb. Klages does a great job of filtering everything through the lives and viewpoints of children (Suze and Dewey) so there is just a sense that the "gadget" is causing either celebration or unease with the scientist parents feverishly working on the project. The subject matter opened plenty of options for dialogue with my daughter to explain the conditions of the world at the time, and the ramifications of the bombs.

The plot moved slowly, and while the themes were heavy (war! death! abandonment! women in science! bullying!) the novel felt almost quiet in tone. Lots of detail for setting and actions made the book seem sluggish at times.

Overall, while I would say neither of us felt glued to every word, this book opened up some great discussions and provided my daughter an excellent glimpse of the difference between a child in Los Alamos in the mid forties and a child today.



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