The Best American Non-Required Reading 2008 ed. by Dave Eggers

If you haven't heard me say it before, let me say it again: I LOVE the Best American series. Especially this one. Edited by Dave Eggers, of Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and McSweeney's fame, it's a compilation of all the stuff that didn't make it into the other Best American books: graphic novel excerpts, essays from online publications, short stories that didn't make Best American Short Stories or Mystery Stories, etc. And, usually, for my taste, this collection has the most interesting stuff of any of the three I read.

I loved "Neptune's Navy," the piece on Sea Shepherd, the radical environmental group dedicated to stopping whaling AT ANY COST. You may have just heard about them in the news: one of their small craft was destroyed by a Japanese whaler. There was also an essay on Bill Clinton and what he's been up to post-presidency. This compilation totally gets five out of five Whatevers. Recommended for the eclectic reader!

(Sorry this is getting posted so late. I finished this over my vacation, but my husband has been having some fairly major health problems since I returned, so I have been a little preoccupied...)

Now It's My Turn by Mary Cheney

I had been pretty interested in this memoir when I Mooched it a few months ago. But I have to say, it did not live up to my expectations. I guess I figured it would be less about Dick Cheney and more about Mary Cheney, but it really wasn't. It seemed to be Dick Cheney through his daughter's eyes. I wanted some introspection on how it felt to be a Log Cabin Republican, but Mary Cheney really didn't get into that. Of course, she talked about her sexuality to the extent that it is a part of who she is and to the extent that it played some sort of role in the election, but I guess I was looking for more than just, "It made me mad when John Kerry used my sexuality as a plank in his election platform."

And I'd also hoped that it would cover more than just the two election years, but it didn't. Mary Cheney served as her father's campaign manager during the 2000 election, and his director of operations during the 2004 election. The book chronicles those two elections cycles and not much else. There are some anecdotes from her childhood, but almost nothing about the years between 2000 and 2004, when Dick Cheney was actually serving as Vice President. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I wanted more from this memoir than just election coverage.

Another reason I didn't really care for the book was the potshots at Democrats. I'm a liberal Dem myself and I just didn't appreciate the snide comments. I'm sure left-wing memoirs take shots at Republicans, too, but I don't imagine they like hearing the comments any more than I did. It was hard, getting into the groove of the book, only to come up against some little zinger aimed at the left. The comments were few and far between, but they were also mostly unnecessary. I know, I know, it's a memoir, she's entitled to put her personality into it! But...they were just unpleasant for me and distracted from the overall events she was describing.

I will say, though, that despite the above quibbles, I raced through the book. It was interesting learning more about the election process than I ever knew before. Mary Cheney has seen it all and gave a great insider's perspective, for both a newcomer and an incumbent.

Overall, I'll give the book three out of five Whatevers. It was close to getting a two and a half, but it did keep me enthralled, so that saved it. Recommended for Republicans who ENJOY potshots at Democrats, anyone who wants to learn more about the election process from the inside out, and anyone who wants more info about the elections of 2000 and 2004.

Back

I'm back in sunny South Florida (um, rainy South Florida?) again. My car was NOT totaled, thank God, and has been repaired. I'm a little homesick and blue since returning, but that's not unusual for me after a visit to the old homestead.

I finished two books since I left and am almost halfway through Lonesome Dove, which is no mean feat, since that book is GINORMOUS. I got lots of books and book-related gifts for Christmas, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy, shopping and reading, during this new year.

I have reviews of the books I've finished coming up, once I get motivated. Happy 2010 to all! Hope it's a great year!

It Never Ends

Well, despite being about 10 days from the end of the year, the trials and tribulations of 2009 have not ended. Last Thursday, my husband and I decided to go out to dinner, to celebrate our last dinner-time alone together before I leave for the holidays. Even though it was raining, we decided to go anyway. I mean, this is Florida...it rains all the time! While we were inside eating dinner, about a foot of rain was dumped directly on us. When we finished and went to get the car, there was about three inches of standing water inside it. Panicked and just trying to get us HOME, I drove through a large puddle in the parking lot. And my car quit running. My beautiful, barely-two-year-old car is most likely dead. I've calmed down some since Friday morning, when I was in absolute hysterics. But I'm still worried. What if we're not covered? If we are, things are fine. We have gap insurance, which will cover the difference between what we owe on the car and what it's worth. I'm just worried that the flash flooding and/or puddle driving accident are not covered losses. Then we would be SCREWED. We can't afford to take on an additional car payment, while still paying off a car we don't even own anymore. We don't have enough in savings to outright purchase a used vehicle. This year has been terrible finance-wise, what with the wedding and moving. Add to that the need to purchase a new car, which we weren't expecting to have to do for another year or so? I just don't see how we can do it. I AM taking on a second job (teaching an online class for the local college), and we'll have Ricky's bank loan paid off in February, and our friends have been WONDERFUL, offering the loan of an "extra" car that they have if we need it...but...I'm just SO ready for 2010. There's no way it can be as stressful as 2009.

I'm heading up north to my parents' house in a few hours. They have dial-up, so I probably won't be around for the next ten days or so. I did get a new book from LibraryThing, and I finished Now It's My Turn, but I'll deal with all that when I get back from the holidays. You all have a wonderful holiday yourselves! See y'all in 2010!

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

I received this book as an ARC from LibraryThing/St. Martin's Paperbacks. I have to say, I enjoyed this novel immensely. It's the beginning of a new series by Handeland, called The Phoenix Chronicles, as the main character at the heart of the action is named Elizabeth Phoenix.

Elizabeth was adopted as a young child, taken in off the streets by a woman named Ruthie. At the opening of the book, Ruthie is found murdered and it's up to Liz to figure out why. Liz meets up with a man from her past, Jimmy Sanducci, and he reveals to her that she has supernatural powers she never knew of...and it's up to her save the world. She travels to New Mexico to learn to use her powers, and then to New York to put them to the test. She's a seer, one who can tell demons from humans, and she is needed to show the demon-killers where to focus their efforts next. But what is she to do when someone close to her is the demon who needs killing?

The book does have some sexual content and language, so if you're not a fan of those things, you might want to skip this book. I, however, have no qualms about language or sex scenes (and the sex scenes in this book weren't THAT bad, but I have pretty liberal standards), so I enjoyed the book a lot.

It's a good supernatural romance/thriller. It's a great beginning to the series. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. But I was drawn in and stayed up late several nights, including this past Wednesday night when I finished it, in order to find out what would happen to Liz next. And, since I was SUPPOSED to review this book over a year ago, there are now at least two more books in the series published, so I'll have to keep an eye out for them, because I'd like to find out where Liz's powers take her next.

Four and a half out of five Whatevers. Good for fans of Laurell K. Hamilton, older fans of the Twilight books, and anyone who is interested in a good romance/thriller all rolled into one.

P.S. Word of warning: almost everyone who posted a review for this book on LibraryThing HATED it. Weird. I really liked it. Guess it goes to show that every reader is different. That's why I try not to read too many reviews before I write my own. I started to feel feeble-minded and stupid for liking this book, after reading about so many others who didn't like it!

Quick Post

Finished another book (a REVIEW book!) Wednesday night, but won't have time to review it till maybe tomorrow. I've got two Christmas parties tonight. This book was the beginning of a series and I REALLY enjoyed it (hence, my speeding through it). I haven't really read anything since I finished Any Given Doomsday, but I'll probably take a book break and read a magazine to catch up. Then, I think I'll dive in to Mary Cheney's autobiography, Now It's My Turn. Hope y'all are getting your fill of reading and holiday events!

Virtual Advent Tour 2009

I'm participating in the Virtual Advent Tour this year. We're supposed to share Christmas memories, traditions, etc. with the rest of the bloggy world.

Christmas, for me, is a time to reconnect with my family. I don't see them very often, as they are (mostly) in Ohio and I am in Florida. But Christmas is the one time a year when I can count on seeing them, especially my sisters.

And what do we do when we get together? We watch movies! Our favorite, must-see Christmas movie is a rather unusual one...Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. And it has to be the second one, not the first, and certainly, oh GOD no, not the third one. I don't know what it is about this movie...but we all have our favorite parts and we know almost all the lines from it by heart. We'll gather as a group and watch it, without our parents around to interrupt. I'm 32 years old, but it makes me feel like a kid again to spend this goofy time with my sisters!

Another of our Christmas favorites is one I've already watched this season, Love, Actually. This is a sweet, romantic comedy with lots of different storylines that all weave together in the end. My sisters and I share an inside joke that the kid who plays the character Sam in the movie sort of looks like my cat, Picasso. That's not the best picture of Picasso, but what do you all think?

Finally, the traditional favorite, one we usually watch with our parents, is A Christmas Story. Who doesn't love this silly story of Ralphie and his quest for the Red Rider BB Gun? My favorite part is the leg lamp. What's yours?

I can't wait to go "home" this year and watch all of these favorites with my sisters. What movies are holiday classics for your family?