Review - Regular Guy by Sarah Weeks

Regular Guy by Sarah Weeks
published 1999
120 pages

Synopsis from publisher:

Guy is convinced that the man and woman with whom he has lived all his life cannot possibly be what they claim to be--his parents. They're too weird! Would anyone else's mother tie-dye every pair of underwear in the house? Would anyone else's father perform the famous oyster trick by sucking an oyster up his nose with a horrible noise and spitting it out of his mouth--in a restaurant? No--except maybe the parents of the weirdest, craziest, most unappealing kid in Guy's whole class, Bob-o. But Bob-o's parents are as normal as parents come--just like Guy. This gives Guy food for thought, especially when he finds out that he and Bob-o have the same birthday, and were born in the same hospital! Guy and his best friend Buzz are determined to find out the truth about what really took place the day Guy and Bob-o were born.

My thoughts:

This book was my selection for challenge #2 of Jenners' Take A Chance Challenge -

Random Word. Go to this random word generator and generate a random word. Find a book with this word in the title. Read the book and write about it.

My random word was "regular", so I found the book Regular Guy. Boy, this book was a lot of fun!

Who doesn't remember being a kid and wishing you had a different family? My parents are great, and yet I can still remember packing up my little suitcase and getting ready to run away. (As a funny aside, my plan was to run to my grandma's house, because I was CONVINCED that she wouldn't tell them I was there. Clearly I didn't think that part through very well...) Regular Guy's hero, Guy, is sure of the same thing. His parents are SO EMBARRASSING, and he knows there must have been a mistake.

This book is a delight - it's clever, and funny, and tackles a subject that is almost universal. Guy is an endearing main character, and his best friend, Buzz, is a great sidekick. It was so much fun to read as Guy and Buzz discover "clue" after "clue" to their great mystery, and their plan to solve Guy's problem is hilarious.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and recommend it for kids in upper elementary school. It's about family, and friends, and coming to terms with your identity, and it's also a great read.

Finished: 11/16/09
Source: Forest Avenue Library
Rating: 8/10

This book counts toward:

Thursday Tunes and Take a Chance Challenge!

Today I'm doing something a little bit different - challenge #8 in the Take a Chance Challenge involves music -

Lit Riff (inspired by the book Lit Riffs by Matthew Miele.) Choose a song and then write a brief story that is inspired by or further explains the lyrics of the song.


So I thought I'd combine Thursday Tunes with the Take a Chance Challenge, and come up with something fun. (Maybe.) Have I mentioned before that I was never very good at creative writing? So this story will likely be VERY brief. Also, because every once in a while I like to do something that my sister will enjoy, I've chosen a Bon Jovi song. (You're welcome, Carolynn.) (Please enjoy the hair in the following video. ) (And yes, I like this version - sorry, purists.) (What else can I think of to put in parenthesis??)

Here's the song I've chosen -



And now, the story -

--------------------------------------------------------------------

He was leaving her again.

He'd promised he would never leave her again. So why was standing in their tiny closet, taking shirts off hangers, counting pairs of socks and underwear? He had promised. Promised.

She knew it wasn't fair to hold him to that promise. Jobs in their backwater town were scarce - he had been working three all winter long, just to make ends meet. After Ellie was born, she had to quit hers. Three small kids were too much to juggle, and she could feel the resentment of the other girls at the diner when she'd taken yet another day off because Cara was sick. So she stayed home, and left the providing to him.

He was a hard worker. It was one of the things she'd noticed about him first - he was never still. His hands were always busy, fixing something, making something. He had a list of projects a mile long, dreams he couldn't wait to fulfill - a porch, a gazebo, a swingset. Those dreams had seemed so reachable when they first got married. They bought their first house with those dreams, had their first baby, planned out their lives. She felt safe.

And then one baby became two, and then three, and soon their house was too small, and their money didn't stretch far enough, and those idyllic first days, with their plans and dreams, seemed ages and ages away. It's not like they were the only ones - it seemed everyone she knew was in a similar situation. And yet, somehow, she felt continually surprised to find herself here.

Their neighbor told him last night there was work a few towns over - someone with lots of money, needing men who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty. Rumors like this flew around every so often, and the men would disappear, leaving women and children alone, worried, frightened. He'd gone off to follow one of these crazy leads before, leaving her with Cara, wondering if she'd ever see him again. When he got back, she broke down, begged him never to leave her again, swore she'd die if he did. He promised. He promised he'd never leave.

And yet here she was in their bedroom, folding pants into his suitcase, cursing the neighbor who opened his big mouth. How would she raise these kids by herself? What if the grocery store stopped letting her buy on credit? How would she live for months without seeing his smile?

She sensed him as he walked into the room, wrapped his arms around her. "You know you're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Maybe it would be alright.



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Not a literary masterwork, that's for sure! But I think it definitely follows the guidelines of the challenge, and it was an interesting experiment. It's fun to cross these challenges off my list!

Review - Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline

Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline
published 8/09
275 pages


I've been dreading this particular entry in Jenners' Take A Change Challenge - I was never really that good at "creative" writing. But as I was reading this novel, the haiku just popped into my head, so I figured this would be as good a choice as any to complete this challenge.


Poetic Review. Write a book review in three different forms of verse: haiku, limerick and free verse. (You can pick any book you want to write about.)

Here goes -

A tragic mistake.
Friendships teeter on the brink -
Is the grass greener?

-------------------------------------

Four friends - two girls and two boys -
Get married to experience life's joys.
But when two members stray,
Hiding their love away,
Their happiness becomes so much noise.


------------------------------


What happens when a boy and a girl and a boy fall in love?
They promise each other forever, the boy and the girl,
And the second boy and the second girl, conveniently best friend
to the first girl, mentioned above.
They plan their lives, piece by piece,
Overlooking nothing,
except the love of the first girl and the second boy,
Which no one mentions.

Until one day, unbeknownst to the second girl and the first boy,
the first girl and the second boy remember,
Rekindle,
Betray.

A falling-out, a tragedy, a book tour -
events conspire to uncover the truth.
And soon all the boys, and all the girls
watch their carefully constructed lives slip away.
Was safety really such a good thing?

In the end, it's all about love.

------------------------------


Well. Not as painful as I'd anticipated, but definitely out of my comfort zone. Great challenge, Jenners! In case you're wondering, Bird in Hand was an excellent novel, and I'll be looking for more by this author.

Finished: 9/19/09
Source: the publisher
Rating: 8/10

This book counts toward -

TSS - Review - Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy

Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy
published 6/03
272 pages

Synopsis from publisher:

Set in California, Liars and Saints follows four generations of the Catholic Santerre family from World War II to the present, as they navigate a succession of life-altering events -- through the submerged emotion of the fifties, the recklessness and excess of the sixties and seventies, and the reckonings of the eighties and nineties. In a family driven by jealousy and propriety as much as by love, an unspoken tradition of deceit is passed from generation to generation, and fiercely protected secrets gradually drive the Santerres apart. When tragedy shatters their precarious domestic lives, it takes astonishing courage and compassion to bring them back together.

My thoughts:

This was my Random Book selection for Jenners' Take a Change Challenge. It was not, unfortunately, a big hit for me.

The novel had a feeling of detachment, which I can only assume was purposeful on the author's part, but it really kept me from feeling any sort of concern for any of the characters. Additionally, I didn't really like any of them - they just seemed spoiled and whiny. And there was a specific storyline that I really didn't care for that wrapped up the novel, making me anxious to be done.

I don't think it was horrible - I could appreciate that it was well written, and there were moments that were funny and heartwarming. But overall, it is not a novel I would recommend, or an author I would look for in the future. Perhaps the biggest problem was that it was the first book I read after The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I loved - it probably never really had a chance.

Finished: 8/13/09
Source: Franklin Avenue Libary
Rating: 5/10

This book counts toward:

Take a Change Challenge - Book/Movie Comparison

10. Movie/Book Comparison. Find a book that you haven't read that has a movie based on it that you haven't seen. Read the book and watch the movie within a few days of each other. Write about your reactions to both the book and the movie and compare the two.






I read Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson last week - you can read my thoughts on the book here. Somewhere in Time, the movie, stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, and is a slightly different story, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

One of the biggest problems I had with the book was that the first half started out rather slowly - it seemed to drag significantly until Richard made it back in time. I felt like the movie did a much better job of pacing - I didn't get that antsy feeling I had when reading the book, waiting for things to start getting good. I also felt a much stronger emotional connection to the romance of the story. I think, in general, I respond more to love stories on screen than in books, and that was definitely true with this story.

Of course, casting Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour as the leads certainly didn't hurt - in 1980 when the movie was made, they were two of the most beautiful people in the world, and watching them on screen certainly brought the story to life for me.

They did change some plot points from the book to the movie, and the changes to the ending made it seem a bit abrupt. But in general, the adaptation was strikingly similar to the book, and I feel like it stayed true to the feeling of the novel. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the greatest love story of all time, as I've seen some people assert, but it was an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

TSS - It's challenge time again!

After all, it's been such a long time since I've joined any challenges......=)

This one sounds like a lot of fun. It's hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here, and it's all about reading outside your normal comfort zone. Here's the scoop:


This challenge is all about taking chances in your reading. There are 10 tasks in all -- 7 involve finding a book to read in very random ways. The last three tasks are about taking chances as a writer as you are challenged to take on the role of short story writer, poet and movie/book reviewer. The challenge is meant to be fun and no pressure. Complete as many or a few of the 10 challenges as you want. However, the more you complete, the more chances you'll get to win the grand prize. Here are the details:

• The challenge will run from June 1, 2009 through November 30, 2009 (6 months)
• One winner will be drawn on December 1, 2009 and will receive a grand prize of $25 worth of books from Amazon (any books you choose!)
• Each completed task earns you one entry into the drawing for the grand prize.
• To earn an extra entry, blog or Tweet about this challenge and let me know in the comment section.
• To earn 5 extra entries, complete all 10 challenges.
• The total number of entries that can be earned is 16 (10 for each challenge, 5 for completing all tasks and 1 for blogging/tweeting about the challenge).
  
• You can join the challenge anytime before the November 30 deadline but only tasks completed by November 30, 2009 will be counted as entries.
• To have your entries count, you must publish them on your blog and leave a comment with a link to your entries in the comment section for this post.
  
• All participants must sign up in Mr. Linky below so I can keep track of everyone who is participating.

I hope I've covered all the bases. As this is my first attempt at a challenge, if I'm missing something critical, let me know! Also, I've created a button for the challenge that you can use if you would like (code is in my left column). So now, without further ado, here are the 10 challenges for you to work on.

1. Random Book Selection. Go to the library. Position yourself in a section such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Children (whatever section you want). Then write down random directions for yourself (for example, third row, second shelf, fifth book from right). Follow your directions and see what book you find. Check that book out of the library, read it and then write about it. (If you prefer, you can do the same at a bookstore and buy the book!)
2. Random Word. Go to this random word generator and generate a random word. Find a book with this word in the title. Read the book and write about it.
3. Birth Year Book. Find a book that was published or copyrighted in the year of your birth. Read the book and write about it.
4. Judge A Book By Its Cover. Pick out a book based SOLELY on the cover. First, write about what you expect the book to be about based on the cover art. Then read the book and write about how the book was different from and/or similar to what the cover art led you to expect.
   
5. Phoning An Author. Pick a random last name out of the phone book. Find an author with the same last name and read a book by them. Write about it. (I'm flexible ... if the first random name you pick is Xprxyrsss, you can pick again!)
   
6. Public Spying. Find someone who is reading a book in public. Find out what book they are reading and then read the same book. Write about it.
7. Random Bestseller. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1950 for the min. and 2008 for the max. and then hit generate. Then go to this site and find the year that Random.org generated for you and click on it. Then find the bestseller list for the week that would contain your birthday for that year. Choose one of the bestsellers from the list that comes up, read it and write about it.
8. Lit Riff (inspired by the book Lit Riffs by Matthew Miele.) Choose a song and then write a brief story that is inspired by or further explains the lyrics of the song.
9. Poetic Review. Write a book review in three different forms of verse: haiku, limerick and free verse. (You can pick any book you want to write about.)
10. Movie/Book Comparison. Find a book that you haven't read that has a movie based on it that you haven't seen. Read the book and watch the movie within a few days of each other. Write about your reactions to both the book and the movie and compare the two.

Talk about some interesting categories! I've started my list - here is what I have so far:

1 - Random Book -
My library directions were 4th row, right hand side, 3rd shelf, exact middle book. I came up with Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy.

2 - Random Word -
My random word was Regular (yep, I'm serious. I am the most boring person you know.), and the book I found is Regular Guy by Sarah Weeks.

3 - Birth Year Book -
I was born in 1976, and I've given myself a short list to choose from:
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
Trinity by Leon Uris

4 - Judge a Book by its Cover -
TBD

5 - Phoning an Author -
The last name I selected was Barton, and the book I found is Cold Hearted by Beverly Barton

6 - Public spying -
TBD

7 - Random Bestseller -
The year I got was 1964, and again I've made myself a short list of choices:
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita by Rumer Godden
Caravans by James Michener
The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge

8 - Lit Riff -
TBD

9 - Poetic Review -
TBD

10 - Movie/Book Comparison -
Once again, I've made a short list of choices:
Ballet Shoes by Noel Straetfeild
Roots by Alex Haley
The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton



So, there you have it - I've had such fun coming up with my list, I can't wait to get started! If you are interested in joining this challenge, you can sign up here.