How to choose a Christmas gift

 

While I'll buy an adult friend a book that I haven't read, as long as it's been highly recommended, I won't do the same when buying a book for a kid or a teen. I want to make sure that the book is worth reading, that it's "appropriate" (means different things for different kids), and I want to be able to talk about the book to the gift recipient after she or he has read it. (Of course, I always hope that they'll read the book but sadly. that doesn't always seem to be the case.)

This year, I decided I was going to gift each granddaughter a book. I knew exactly the book that I wanted to give the 14-year old. I loved Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. I loved the entire Sisterhood series. (And I loved the movie... but not as much as the book. The book was so much better!) But what to buy for the 12-year old? She's too grown-up for some of my favorites from when I was a 5th grade teacher. I started googling  "best books for 12-year old girls." I read list after list after list. The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty showed up on several of the lists. I was able to get the e-book out of the library and was able to read the book fairly quickly. It's a story about a girl who gets struck by lightning and causes brain damage in the form of acquired savant. In other words, after being a perfectly normal girl for the first 8 years of her life, she becomes a math genius. She's been homeschooled since the lightning strike, but as 7th grade begins, her grandmother decides it's time for Lucy (aka Lightning Girl) to attend middle school. 

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl is a pretty typical book about adjusting to middle school which would make more sense if granddaughter was first starting middle school. But considering she's halfway thru her middle school career, this book just didn't make sense for her. However, I really enjoyed McAnulty's writing style, perhaps because she used to be a correspondent for The Daily Show? Miscalculations was her first middle grade novel. I noticed she had a book called Millionaires for the Month. I read the blurb on that one and it reminded me of the Million Dollar Math project that I used to teach in fifth grade. The point of the project was  to prove to kids just how much a million dollars is. That seemed to be the point of this kids' book as well.This one was also available at the library so I took it out and started on another kids' book. I don't remember the last time I read a kids' book prior to this.

The two main characters are Felix and Benji and I worried that this might be more of a boys' book. Not the case at all. Felix is field trip partners with Benji when he finds a lost wallet on the ground in Central Park. The wallet has a drivers' license inside. It's the wallet of a famous billionaire! Benji, who was hungry and didn't have enough money for a hotdog, figures that a billionaire won't notice a missing $20 bill. Felix, the rules follower goes along, even though he disagrees. They take the $20, turn the wallet over to the police with a little note enclosed so perhaps the billionaire will reward them for returning the wallet.

When the billionaire gets her wallet back, she notices that the $20 is missing. She comes to Felix and Benji's middle school in Upstate New York and accuses them of stealing. After much discussion, she offers the boys a challenge. She'll give them the amount of money in the "penny doubled every day for 30 days" calculation. If they can spend that amount of money, in excess of $5 million, she will reward them with $10 million each! How hard can it possibly be to spend $5 million in 30 days? Except... along with the challenge come a lot of rules. Will Felix and Benji be able to spend the money in time?

The book is still al title young for a 12-year old. (The character try are 12-years old, usually a bad sign. But the way they go about trying to spend the money within the confines of the rules was so interesting. At least it was so interesting to me. So interesting, in fact, that I recommended it to one of my former 5th grade colleagues who is still teaching fifth grade. I hope my recipient enjoys this novel as much as I did.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin was highly recommended in Renee's Reading Club (that group on Facebook where I get a lot of recommendations). When I was ready for a new audio book and this was available, I scooped it up. It was very confusing at first to listen to because I couldn't tell who was speaking, I didn't realize that the chapter names were sentences which made things seem to not make sense. I was almost ready to return the book to the library. Unread. Instead, I put it aside, and requested the e-book version. I really wanted to give this novel a chance. Once I got the e-book, the format, the narration, the chapter titles all made sense. I was then able to seamlessly move from the e-book and the audio book. That's something I am rarely able to do with a book.

The upshot is that I loved this story. Seventeen year old Lenni and 83-year old Margot meet in an art class while patients in a Glasgow hospital. They realize that between the two of them they've lived 100 years. And between the two of them, they have 100 years of life stories. They create the idea for a project of creating art to represent each one of the 100 stories they are ready to share. The art project forms the structure to the story. The life stories are the meat of the novel.

We learn about their families and why they are both in the hospital. We learn how they each become the person that they are when they meet. Cronin reveals the information in an engaging way. We watch them each learn about love. We watch Lenni and Margot's relationship develop. We get to know other characters, both patients and workers, in the hospital with them.

I'm not sure that I'd recommend the audio book, but I'd highly recommend this novel.
 

The Paris Library

 

Janet Skeslien Charles' historical fiction, The Paris Library, is told is dual timelines. What I'd consider the main story is set in France during World War II. The other story is about young Lily, living in rural Montana, yearning to be a part of the bigger world. She's intrigued by her very private French next door neighbor and wants to learn more about her story.

Oriel had always loved books and longed to be a librarian for as long as she could remember. In the late 1930s, she's lucky enough to get a position in the American Library in Paris. Readers - and especially library lovers - will love this aspect of the novel. I know that part of the story.

What made this novel most compelling is that several of the characters were actual people who managed to keep the library open during the war. The library was an important gathering place and a place where friendships were developed. The head librarian created "The Soldier's Service" to provide serviceman with books to read during the war. It reminded me of the Kentucky Packhorse Library but during a war.

The relationships in the book developed in a natural, authentic way, ebbing and flowing the way relationships do in real life. Sometimes we recognize how much we can count on our friends and what it takes us to be good friends to them. Other times, they disappoint us and we, purposely or inadvertently, disappoint them.

The novel is about "r" esistance during the way. And yes, the fact that there's a lowercase "r" is important. This is not a story about The Resistance. I'd highly recommend it to those who recognize the importance of libraries and books.

The Red Tent

I first read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant when it came out in 2007 so this was a re-read for me. If it wasn't a book club read, I probably wouldn't have read it again. Even though I loved the book the first time I read it and merely liked it this time. I think I got a lot more out of it reading it now.

The story came about because of a reference to Jacob's lone daughter, Dinah, in Genesis 34 in the Bible. In the Bible, there's just a small mention of Dinah. Diamant creates a story about women roles and society during Biblical days with Dinah as the central character. 

My thinking about women in Biblical stories has evolved over the years, in part due to some classes I've taken with the spiritual leader of my synagogue. She's all about the women. In 2007, I took a lot of what I read at face value. What was also different for this reading is that we were reading the story of Jacob and his wives and then his reunion with his brother, Esau, in synagogue at the same time I was reading and discussing the novel. That made me read the novel differently and it also made me read the Torah portions differently. A very rich experience.

The discussion at book club was primarily about women's roles and the relationships between Jacob's wives and his daughter. The "red tent" refers to the tent where women retreated to during the times of their periods. We're (unintentionally) an all-women's book club and we all agreed that it would have been lovely if we'd been able to have our own red tent back when we were menstruating.

If you haven't read this, I'd strongly suggest you do.
 

The Sixth Wedding

I loved The Sixth Wedding, Elin Hilderbrand's follow-up novella to 28 Summers. I only liked that book since it had a few issues I couldn't wrap my head around. But this novella which followed up on the stories of the friends and family of Mallory, the main character of 28 Summers. The relationships seemed more authentic and less riddled with questionable decision making.

If you liked 28 Summers, you'll like The Sixth Wedding. If you loved 28 Summers, this might be a disappointment to you. In either case, though, you might find yourself wanting for a little bit more.
 

Well Behaved Wives

We'll Behaved Wives by Amy Sue Nathan is one of my Amazon Prime First Reads. As usual, I read my free books while waiting for a library book to come in. This one was a lot meatier than I expected.

Here's the blurb from goodreads.com:

Perfect wives, imperfect lives, and upending the rules of behavior in 1960s America.

Law school graduate and newlywed Ruth Applebaum is acclimating to life and marriage in a posh Philadelphia neighborhood. She’ll do almost anything to endear herself to her mother-in-law, who’s already signed up Ruth for etiquette lessons conducted by the impeccably accessorized tutor Lillian Diamond. But Ruth brings something fresh to the small circle of housewives—sharp wit, honesty, and an independent streak that won’t be compromised.

Right away Ruth develops a friendship with the shy Carrie Blum. When Carrie divulges a dark and disturbing secret lurking beneath her seemingly perfect life, Ruth invites Lillian and the Diamond Girls of the etiquette school to finally question the status quo.

Together they form an unbreakable bond and stretch well beyond their comfort zones. For once, they’ll challenge what others expect from them, discover what they expect from themselves, and do whatever it takes to protect one of their own—fine manners be damned.

The secrets shared were not secrets that I was expecting to read about. The friendships amongst the women evolved into something deeper than I expected as well. While we've made a lot of progress since the early 1960s, we still have a really long way to go. This is historical fiction that takes place in an affluent Jewish community to Jewish women, but this was not at all Jewish fiction. The story could have taken place in any affluent community of the time.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Not a book I ever would have picked up on my own, The History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, while in parts sort of dry (ha ha... this is a book about beverages) was the type of book that compelled me to share snippets with my husband and the rest of my family over Thanksgiving weekend.

Standage tells the history of the world as it revolved around 6 different beverages. Beer, wine, coffee, tea, Coca Cola and water. "Did you know that people drank beer to get hydrated a really long time ago?" was one of the questions I posed to my family. Two of them quickly understood that beer was probably safer to drink than water back then. And so went our weekend. Me sharing facts, them either already figured them out and surprised to learn something new.

Parts of the book dragged on a little too long. And parts of it, some of the political things, I didn't want to concentrate hard enough to fully understand them. But I'm looking forward to discussing this with my book club next week. I think tea and Coca Cola were most interesting. And I'd love to hear his follow-up on water!

P.S. We had a great book club discussion.
 

The Bookstore Sisters

What reader doesn't love a good story set in a bookstore? The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman was one of my Amazon Prime First Reads and as a short story, it was perfect to pick up when I needed something to read at that moment, but had other books pending.

This is a story about estranged sister Isabel trying to find a way to reconnect with her sister, Sophie, as well as with her past.. The family bookstore that was left in the care of Sophie is getting ready to go bankrupt. Can Isabel and Sophie come together, find their way, and save the bookstore.

I could have easily read a longer version of this beautifully written short story. The two most likeable characters are Violet, Sophie's daughter, and Hank, the dog that Isabel dog walks who somehow ends up going "home" with her.

Mr. Perfect on Paper

Written by Jean Meltzer, the author of The Matzoh Ball, Mr. Perfect on Paper is also like a Jewish Hallmark movie. In this instance, Dara Rabinowitz, 3rd generation matchmaker, is looking for love. She gets tricked into this by her grandmother, her bubbe, the first generation matchmaker, when Bubbe reads Dara's checklist for "The Perfect Jewish Husband" on an afternoon television show. The anchor of the show offers to help her find her perfect mate at the same time he hopes to boost the ratings of his fledgling show.

The book was very cute, easy to read, but it does include some serious issues. Dara is dealing with severe anxiety (similar to the main character of The Matzoh Ball, if I'm recalling correctly). Most of Dara's dates are comical, at best. In the meantime, her admiration for Chris, the TV anchorman, grows.

I was disappointed with part of  the novel, but talking about that will be too big a spoiler. Yet even that was given a nice spin by Bubbe. My other complaint would be that for all the accurate Jewish information Meltzer includes, she referred to the prayer book for Yom Kippur as a siddur. It's a machzor. It wouldn't have bothered me had she just called it prayer book, but since everything else was so "correct," this bothered me.

It was a fun, enjoyable read and I'd recommend. It would make a great Hallmark movie!