The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer (Book Review)

The Land of Stories

The Enchantress Returns

by Chris Colfer

517 pages

Little Brown, August 2013

young adult / fiction

Read in 4 days

Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com | BN.com

"The East was in a period of great celebration."

Review: Before I get into the positives about this book, I would like to start with what I hated about it. Now, I read and reviewed the first book last year so my memory on how it was written is a bit on the hazy side. One thing I don't recall it doing is bothering me when it came to the dialogue. Perhaps I'm wrong in this but I felt the parts where it says "he said" or "she said" was coming WAY too often without any real description behind them. I was looking for a "he answered" or "she replied" or "she screamed"?! Anything other than the word "said" would have sufficed. Especially in places where it's obvious who is talking. If you start a paragraph with describing what a particular character it doing then it stands to reason that whatever spoken sentences to follow in that same paragraph are being uttered by that character!! Now I understand this is a book for a younger audience but what they are able to understand and comprehend is far more intelligent than the way this book was written. The whole time I kept asking myself if ANYONE bothered to edit this book before putting it to press? There were a lot of grammatical and structural mistakes like that, for me, throughout the book. It got so bad that I was rewording sentences as I went along so I wouldn't give myself a headache!

But, on a good note, I found the way the different fairy tale character story lines were woven together to create the Land of Stories ingenious. I must give Chris Colfer credit for coming up with some great ideas and structure that not only works but makes sense.

Alex and Conner are back in this sequel, to stop the evil Enchantress, who's come back for revenge against the entire world for wronging her they way they did in the past. I don't want to give anything away of the story but all the usual character tales are back: Red Riding Hood, Jack, Goldilocks, Froggy (aka Charles), the Harp, the Fairy Godmother, and anyone else you can think of. Oh, and Rumplestiltskin plays a big part in this book as well.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I found it very cool the way he was made the eighth dwarf!

***END OF SPOILER***

I enjoyed it and will continue reading the rest of the installments, I just hope the writing style gets MUCH better by the third one. Oh, and quit it with all the crying! Sheesh! lol

Summary: After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance. Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it's ever faced.

To learn more about The Land of Stories please visit this site here.

The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett (Book Review)

The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession

by Charlie Lovett

347 pages

Penguin Group, 2013

fiction/history

Read in 5 days

Another Review

My Rating: ★★★★★ 

Amazon.com / BN.com

"Wales could be cold in February."

Review: If you are a lover of books, history, and the 90's then this is the book for you. I truly marveled at the way Charlie Lovett was able to weave together the history of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century with a love story from the 1980's, culminating into a deadly mystery in the "present" time of the mid-nineties. For a story that jumped around to three different time periods as well as locations I never once found myself confused as to where one story left off and where it was being picked back up several chapters later. Moving from the WAY past to the closer past and to the present actually worked in the authors favor. I became more invested in where the story was going as more and more of the mystery was revealed.

Basically this is truly a novel of obsession about a man who loves only two things in his life: antique books and his wife. The only thing that could make his life even more happy is if he were to discover the book sellers version of the "Holy Grail." That of course differs depending on what exactly you would be trying to prove or disprove. In the case of Peter Byerly (our main character), in trying to cope and move on from the sudden and tragic death of his wife, he stumbles upon proof that William Shakespeare is in fact the author of his many plays and sonnets. Strange that there happens to still be so many who believe he did not exist, let alone single-handedly write all those brilliant plays. I won't go into the reasons behind these conspiracy theorists theories but they do exist. Anyway, a very old and ancient mystery is awaiting Peter to solve and in doing so he is able to finally close the book on one of his major loves: his late wife.

Discover a mystery like you never thought possible. Fall in love with not just the words but the history behind the binding and the meticulous detail that I believe is still today put into the books we read. So many of us, myself included, take for granted the words we read and most definitely the binding and paper that keeps those words together. After reading this book I have gained a new appreciation for first editions, only editions, and most of all the care and respect that was given to books long ago when having a book printed, then sharing it or passing it along to loved ones was more than just a way of life, it was worth dying for.

Summary: A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller’s search through time and the works of Shakespeare for his lost love 

Guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who truly loves books, The Bookman’s Tale is a former bookseller’s sparkling novel and a delightful exploration of one of literature’s most tantalizing mysteries with echoes of Shadow of the Wind and A.S. Byatt's Possession. 

Hay-on-Wye, 1995. Peter Byerly isn’t sure what drew him into this particular bookshop. Nine months earlier, the death of his beloved wife, Amanda, had left him shattered. The young antiquarian bookseller relocated from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, Peter is shocked when a portrait of Amanda tumbles out of its pages. Of course, it isn’t really her. The watercolor is clearly Victorian. Yet the resemblance is uncanny, and Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture’s origins. 

As he follows the trail back first to the Victorian era and then to Shakespeare’s time, Peter communes with Amanda’s spirit, learns the truth about his own past, and discovers a book that might definitively prove Shakespeare was, indeed, the author of all his plays.

To learn more about Charlie Lovett, visit his site here.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Book Review)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

A Flavia de Luce Novel

by Alan Bradley

370 pages

Bantam Books, 2009

fiction

Read in 6 days

Another Review...

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com | BN.com

"It was as black in the closet as old blood."

Review: As mysteries go, I read authors such as Jonathan Kellerman & Sue Grafton. If I want to go into truly classic mystery writers I have read Agatha Christie & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But never have I come across a character like Flavia who I truly enjoyed getting to know. She is a young lady who you wouldn't think should be solving a murder faster than the police but her mind is quick on its feet and her way of putting clues together is simple enough for the reader to follow yet complex enough to actually make sense! Aside from the mystery she must solve in order to vindicate her father who is accused of the murder, she also has to contend with her older sisters who are, for lack of better words, flaky and immature.

Her humor and wit is rather mature for her age but that never came as a surprise to me seeing as she loves to read and is fascinated by the mysterious, especially things of a chemical and poisonous variety.

As I've said, the mystery is easy to follow and paced well. I do hate a mystery that takes forever to get to the meat and bones of it! I look forward to continuing to read the other books in this ongoing series. And IF it should ever be made into a televised mystery series I think the BBC would definitely have a hit on their hands! ::hint hint::

Summary: It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.

For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

To learn more about Alan Bradley, visit his website here.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Book Revew)

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce

320 pages

Random House, 2012

fiction

Read in 4 days

Another Review...

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com | BN.com

"The letter that would change everything arrived on a Tuesday."

Review: What can I say about Harold Fry? He's an old man, but not as old as all that, who's recently retired, when he receives a letter from a co-worker he hasn't seen in several decades. Queenie is dying from cancer and she's writing to say her last good-bye.

This book had me from the very beginning. For me, it really starts when he decides to mail a response. The way this book is told from inside his head, his inner-most thoughts and ideas are fascinating and gripping. What lengths would any of us go to so a friend might live?

There are many moving moments in this story that sort of begins and ends with a girl who works in a garage (ie. a kind of convenience store) where Harold first makes the decision to walk from his home in Kingsbridge to Queenies Hospice located on the outskirts of Scotland. In all it's over 500 miles he's decided to walk. As long as he walks the whole way there it stands to reason that she will live until he gets there. It's what he believes from a story the young lady who works in the garage tells him. It's the beginning of a great many stories he's confided with on his journey. I'm reminded of the doctor who teaches him how to properly care for his feet since he insists on completing the journey in a pair of boat shoes. They are not aprapo footwear for a pilgrimage of any kind. Then there is the silver-haired gentleman who confides in him about his closet romance with another gentleman. There are so many different kinds of people Harold meets along the way it's fascinating to read.

Rachel has an uncanny way of answering questions the reader might have at the right moment that they might be thinking it. For instance, the notion that he would be walking for so long and no one ever taking his picture or his story never turning up on the news? Well, not only does that end up happening, but he's even tweeted about! This is a story that shows just how powerful a persons actions can be and just how personal their intent if they truly believe. Harold believed, which in turn made others believe in themselves enough to do unthinkable things. He does come across one or two with bad intents on their minds but the good people he encounters outweighs the others.

There is a lot of raw emotion and so much more to the story than a simple pilgrimage to visit a dying friend. At first you might think it odd that he should journey so far for a woman he hadn't heard from in over 20 years but as his journey continues so does the truth about his life and how the choices he made put him where he was at that moment, walking.

So I ask, how many of us would talk 500 miles if it meant a dying friend would live a little longer? I won't spoil the ending except to say, expect tears of joy and of sorrow. I would expect nothing less from an excellent book.

Summary: Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest. Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live. A novel of charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller.

If you want to learn more about Rachel Joyce, please visit her site.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Book Review)

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak

550 pages
Knopf, USA / March 2006
historical fiction
Read in 7 days
Another Review...

My Rating: ★★★★★

Amazon.com / BN.com

"First the colors."

Review: This book, I don't mind or hesitate in saying, is the best book I've ever read in my entire life! I never thought I'd ever find a book that would touch my heart and soul as much as this one did. From the opening lines of "death" introducing himself to us and taking us on a journey with him as he scoured the small towns and neighborhoods during WWII when the Fuhrer was in power and Jews were being slaughtered by the thousands. The sheer idea that must have gone through Markus' mind when coming up with this story is unfathomable to me. He is definitely someone I would love to have a table discussion with on the evolution of this book.

The characters in this book! The whole book, while narrated by death, is told through the moments in Liesel's life. It's the story of a young German girl, living in a small town with foster parents who take in a Jew and hide him for his safety. But there is SO MUCH MORE to the story than just that. There are the lives that are forever changed and transformed by events that take only seconds to happen but last a lifetime in the mind and especially in the words of the book thief.

I almost found myself unable to properly review this book, which I found ironic since this book takes us through stages of literature really, and the love so few get from it. It starts out with Liesel's curiosity in wanting to learn how to read, so her foster father, Hans, teaches her. Then it develops into storytelling, which she masters really from Max, the Jew who her foster parents hide in their basement. The next step is increasing her vocabulary. She accomplishes this by soaking in the unbelievable library shown to her by the mayors wife. Which leads to the final part, but really the beginning, taking all she has learned and turning the words she's read and spoken and writing them down into her own story. The story our narrator finds in his journey of picking up souls to carry over to the other side, as is his job.

Again, I feel like I'm not giving this book the accolades it deserves because there are so many layers to peel back and examine. This is a book that can be analyzed in the classroom. It's a book that can be discussed in any family dynamic. It's also a book that can be dissected among friends on several levels. I will forever recommend this book and I know I will end up having read it multiple times before MY time on this Earth is done.

Synopsis: It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

If you want to learn more about Markus Zusak, please visit his site.

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The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket (Book Review)

The Reptile Room
A Series of Unfortunate Events #2
by Lemony Snicket

190 pages
HarperCollins, 1999
gothic fiction/absurdist fiction/steampunk/mystery
Read in 2 days

My Rating: ★★★

Amazon.com / BN.com

“The stretch of the road that leads out of the city, past Hazy Harbor and into the town of Tedia, is perhaps the most unpleasant in the world.”

Review: Another 13 chapters down in another easy to read yet highly enjoyable book. The poor Baudelaire children are in for more unfortunate events this time. I seem to think Count Olaf will be making appearances in every book until he (hopefully) meets his own untimely demise. It only seems fair after all the people he’s managed to do away with with no remorse.


I’m a bit surprised that this series would be considered for children considering it’s pretty dark and deadly subject matter but it could be a useful tool in explaining to children the evils of this world in a way they can understand. The author does not hold back in the unfortunate events that happen to these three kind-hearted children. Like I’ve said in my review of the first book, this is definitely a series that needs to be read out loud in order to truly enjoy it.

I recommend this series to people of all ages. You’re never too old to read a classic.

Synopsis: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent children. They are charming, and resourceful, and have pleasant facial features. Unfortunately, they are exceptionally unlucky.

In the first two books alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, a lumpy bed, a deadly serpent, a large brass reading lamp, a long knife, and a terrible odour.

In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.

To learn more about Lemony Snicket, please visit his site.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Book Review)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz

352 pages
Riverhead, 2007
fiction
unfinished
Another Review...

My Rating: n/a

Amazon.com / BN.com

"Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody's always going on about--he wasn't no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock."

Review: This is not the first book I have been unable to finish and it certainly won't be my last. It is however, my first review of a book I have been unable to finish. Just to give you some perspective, the last book I was unable to finish was 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James and before that was Me by Ricky Martin. Otherwise, it's rare for me to start a book and NOT finish it. This means it takes A LOT for me to put down a book and be resigned to leave it unfinished.

This book, as a male friend described to me, is like a modern-day Catcher in the Rye. I am inclined to agree with him. This is a boys book. It's not to say a female couldn't or shouldn't read it, I'm just saying that some books tend to be more girly than others, therefore men won't be drawn to it. The same can be said for this book. Although I've more women reading it than men. If I can be more specific, I've seen more Hispanic women reading it.

My review of the book will only come from the first 150 pages since that is all I read before giving up entirely. One of the factors that caused me to stop was how long it was taking me to read it. If I'm headed into the second week and I'm not even at the half-way point then something is not right. The story of a man coming into his own through various life experiences is a good one. I was a little confused with the character change from Oscar's point of view to his sisters. I'm sure there's a valid reason for this and there probably is a going back and forth between different characters point of view, I just found it distracting.

The dialogue is a mixture of English and Spanish, something else that turned me off to the book. I've never read a "Spanglish" book before and I don't think I ever will again. It helped that I know Spanish quite fluently but to the average person who might not know Spanish but wants to read this book because it's a bestseller and everyone else is or already has read it, I suggest having a handy English/Spanish dictionary with you. Some of the dialogue, if you don't know Spanish, could be easy to decipher based on the surrounding sentences, but I'm usually not looking for a book that has me over analyzing the words instead of the meanings behind them.

Then there's the footnotes. And I'm not talking one or two sentence footnotes, I'm talking paragraphs so long the footnotes go on to the next page and even then might take up more than half of it. I understand there is some important facts that run parallel to the timeline of the book, but it was too much and confusing to have to go forward one page to finish the massive footnote then turn back a page to find where the indication of that footnote was, so you can pick up where you left off.

Lastly, I must mention the lack of quotation marks around the dialogue. I'm guessing there was a specific reason for this that someone who has heard Junot Diaz speak would have the answer to. I would be surprised if during some Q&A he wasn't asked about this very thing. Now, maybe I'm not as smart or well read as I think I am, I have read many classics and bestsellers in my day, but this one was just not to my liking. I'd say it's a hit or miss with this author but in reading other peoples reviews they tend to lean the same way I am, so I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Maybe after I've read a few other books that are more to my liking I will give "Drown" a try which was his first published book, a collection of short stories. In the meantime, I will add this book to my short list of those I have left unfinished.

Synopsis: This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today.

Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fukú – the curse that has haunted the Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.

Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican–American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.

To learn more about Junot Diaz, please visit his site.

The Pigman by Paul Zindel (Book Review)

The Pigman

By Paul Zindel

166 pages

Harper Trophy, 1968

Young Adult literature

Finished in 2 days

Another Review...

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com | BN.com

"Now, I don't like school, which you might say is one of the factors that got us involved with this old guy we nicknamed the Pigman."
My Review: I remember when I was a pre-teen and I would call my grandmother a few times a week and read to her. She didn't care what I read really, I think she just loved how much I loved to read. I figured that out when one Christmas she gave me Sue Grafton's A-P series in one shot! But I'm straying off the subject. I mention this memory of mine because every time I read The Pigman I am reminded of the time I read it to her over the phone. I miss her very much which is probably why I jumped at the chance to read it right away.

This story is a sad one but it speaks to the heart of anyone who reads it. The idea of writing a story where two completely different personalities (Lorraine and John, the main characters) take turns writing a chapter, telling the story of how the Angelo Pignatti changed their lives forever, I would imagine, is not as easy as it sounds. You have the level headed female who happens to be friends with the stubborn, yet handsome, male. They are teenagers which is a difficult age as it is, who happen to have difficult home lives already. It is because of these difficult home lives that they instantly become attached to the Pigman. He could easily have been a grandfather figure for them but he wasn't. Instead, he was more the father and mother John wish he had and the mother Lorraine needed as well. And although both of them lied to get into his life in hopes of using his kindness for their favor, they quickly realize just having an adult around who truly loved them and never put them down or hindered their individuality was all they ever truly wanted.

This book is truly a timeless classic anyone at any age can read. I would recommend it as required reading in school where parents should read it with their child(ren). Their is humor, seriousness, and truth hidden in every page.

Synopsis: A Most Unusual Friendship

When sophomores John and Lorraine played a practical joke a few months ago on a stranger named Angelo Pignati, they had no idea what they were starting. Virtually overnight, almost against their will, the two befriended the lonely old man; it wasn't long before they were more comfortable in his house than their own. But now Mr. Pignati is dead. And for John and Lorraine, the only way to find peace is to write down their friend's story — the story of the Pigman.

Mind Over Murder by Allison Kingsley (Book Review)

Mind Over Murder

by Allison Kingsley

262 pages

The Berkeley Publishing Group, September 2011

crime/mystery

Read in 5 days

My Rating: ★★★1/2

Another Review...

"Stephanie Quinn Dowd you've got to be kidding!"
First Line 

My Review: I don't normally read "penny mysteries" but whenever a title captures my attention I am willing to give it a try. A Raven's Nest Bookstore Mystery hooked me from the beginning. I never realized the world I'd be entering of all the female mystery writers there are who've written various series. Some with titles including dessert, food, buttons, or in this case (and others) books/bookstore.

Aside from Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, & Jonathan Kellerman I've never read a mystery series until now. I'm glad I started. What I consider a good mystery is one that either keeps me guessing all the way until the end or one that allows me to feel like I'm picking up vital clues along the way with the main character. Clara Quinn and her cousin Stephanie Quinn, who owns the Ravens Nest bookstore, are the main characters. They get involved in solving a murder in order to clear the name of an employee of Stephanie's. The idea comes about because Clara has a family gift known as Quinn Sense where she is able to detect if someone is lying to her, among other things. That is my only issue with the premise of the book. I realize Clara having Quinn Sense is what will keep these books going but I feel it's just as good without it.

Did young and naive Molly kill Ana, the woman who was despised by almost everyone in town for one reason or the other? It's just her misfortune that she lives in a small town where a harmless argument is known (and heard) by all, so when Ana turns up dead in the Raven's Nest its obvious to everyone who did it.

I would have appreciated one more murder or a bit more danger but seeing as this is a town similar to that of Cabot Cove, ME I was satisfied with what I got. If you don't know why I mentioned Cabot Cove, it's referencing the Murder, She Wrote series and where most of the stories took place. A small town with nosey neighbors and gossipers, with the occasional murder. If there were to be more than one each time the town would quickly be nonexistent.

If you're looking for a quick read that will keep you guessing and interested until the very last page, this is a good choice. And if you think this is the last time we'll have Clara and Stephanie solving a crime, "Don't bet on it."

Synopsis: Cousins and best friends, Clara and Stephanie Quinn run The Raven's Nest Bookstore, where people go to find their most coveted reads. But they have no idea it's the psychically-gifted Clara who's reading them...

The bookstore has made an enemy of the town crier, Ana Jordon, who claims that the store's occult collection is "poisoning" the town's youth. Meanwhile, the store's number-one employee, Molly, has made no secret of her anger over Ana's antics. So when Ana is found dead, killed by the bust of Edgar Allen Poe sculpted by Molly, the evidence is stacked against her. And Clara must rely on her gift to make sense of this senseless murder...

TCM Presents... We're No Angels (1955)

Director: Michael Curtiz
Screenwriter(s): Albert Husson (play) & Ranald MacDougall
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, & Aldo Ray
Genre(s): comedy/crime/romance
Premiere: July 7th, 1955
Run Time: 106 minutes
Producer(s): Pat Duggan
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
My Rating: ★★★★

Taglines: A strangler... A swindler... A safecracker... Yet you'll love them!




Movie Trailer:


Storyline: At Christmas, three prisoners - Joseph, Albert and Jules - escape from Devil Island to a French small coastal town. They decide to rob a store, to get some money and clothes and travel by ship to another place. They pretend to be there to fix the roof, but pretty soon they realize that the financial condition of the family Ducotel is not good. Andre Tochard, the selfish and mean owner of the establishment, exploits the family Ducotel. The three convicts spend Christmas night with the Ducotels and are so well treated by the family that they decide to help them. Their pet will help them to fix the situation.

My Review: Whenever I think of the great Humphrey Bogart movies I always put this one in my top three of favorites and almost everyone doesn't know which this is. Granted it's no Casablanca, Key Largo, The Maltese Falcon, or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but to me, it's his most honest and human role he's played. Take an escaped convict with a heart and you get the makings of a great feel good movie. This isn't one of the popular Christmas movies like White Christmas, but this is a movie that takes place during Christmas therefore it can and should be seen around this time of year at least once.

This has got everything you could be looking for if you want a lighter Bogart movie. Stellar acting from the entire cast mixed with comedy, drama, romance, and a side of murder. What more could you ask for?

The Little Red Guard by Wenguang Huang (Book Review)

The Little Red Guard

By Wenguang Huang

272 pages

Penguin Group, April 2012

family memoirs/history/Chinese/biography

Read in 8 days

Another Review… 

My Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Amazon.com | BN.com

My Review: The author tells a pretty unbelievable story and I suppose that is what makes this true story all the more fascinating to me. Up until this book I knew very little of the Chinese culture during Mao’s reign and once he was gone. I’ve known that China was a communist country and that communism wasn’t a good thing. When it came to government structures I was aware of the distinct differences between our “Western” culture and that of China’s. But this book gave me a first hand account of it through the lives of what many might consider to represent a typical Chinese family.

Aside from his telling about his father who worked tirelessly to abide by his mother’s wishes, this was just as much a coming of age story for Wenguang. The title and the description lead you to believe this story is simply about a family trying to figure out how they would get away with burying the grandmother without getting caught and suffering permanent punishment. This is not the entire story at all. In fact it’s a small part. To me the coffin is a red herring for the true purpose of this book. The author needed to tell this story for his grandmother who was too concerned with reuniting with her husband back in their home town where he was fortunate enough to be buried before the ban on burial came into effect. For his father who he firmly believes died much too soon (of cancer) because he was overwrought with doing his mothers wishes of being buried and not cremated. His own mother who resented the relationship her older husband had with his mother, feeling like he sacrificed for his own mother but would never do the same for her. And in telling their story he ends up telling us his own story. 

Having lost both my grandmother and my grandfather I can relate to what he was going through all too well. It reminded me how anyone, no matter where we come from, take our choices for granted, feel and die the same as anyone else. This was truly a book that was better than I ever imagined. I learned so much about a new culture and was reawakened to my own at the same time.

Summary: Three generations of a family living under one roof reflect the dramatic transformations of an entire society in this memoir of life in 20th century China

When Wenguang Huang was nine years old, his grandmother became obsessed with her own death. Fearing cremation, she extracted from her family the promise to bury her after she died. This was in Xi’an, a city in central China, in the 1970s, when a national ban on all traditional Chinese practices, including burials, was strictly enforced. But Huang’s grandmother was persistent, and two years later, his father built her a coffin. He also appointed his older son, Wenguang, as coffin keeper, a distinction that meant, among other things, sleeping next to the coffin at night.

Over the next fifteen years, the whole family was consumed with planning Grandma’s burial, a regular source of friction and contention, with the constant risk of being caught by the authorities. Many years after her death, the family’s memories of her coffin still loom large. Huang, now living and working in America, has come to realize how much the concern over the coffin has affected his upbringing and shaped the lives of everyone in the family. Lyrical and poignant, funny and heartrending, The Little Red Guard is the powerful tale of an ordinary family finding their way through turbulence and transition.

Monumental (2012) (Movie Review)

Title: Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure

Director: Duane Barnhart

Writers: Kevin Miller & Marshall Foster

Production Company: Pyro Pictures

In Theaters: March 27th, 2012

Run Time: 90 minutes

Color: Color

Starring: Kirk Cameron

Genre(s): documentary

Storyline: [Adapted from the trailer] The United States of America is the richest, freest nation the world has ever seen. But nowadays all signs point to the reality of a sickness in the soul of our country, and history tells us that we’re headed for disaster if we don’t change our course now.

The set of ideas that is being advanced and implemented in Washington at this time is terribly frightening to those who are students of history. If you look at the superpowers of history, every single one of them has called itself “exceptional.” If you look at the Roman empire, for instance, the parallels to what is going on in the U.S. are alarming. And the question is: Are we going to go down the right path ourselves, or continue blithely along the same wrong path down which so many nations in history’s dustbin have trod…?

In Monumental, producer/narrator Kirk Cameron retraces the footsteps of America’s founders to see if they left us some kind of a map that would guide us back to the foundation of America’s success. Typically when we think of the Pilgrims, we recall images from public-school history classes: pilgrims coming over the sea from England in funny black-and-white suits with big, goofy hats and belt buckles on their shoes. But in fact the Pilgrims were the radicals of their day, living outside the box that had been constructed by the British empire. The hardships they had to endure in starting a new life for themselves, in what to them was a newly discovered land, are incredible, and furnish a vital lesson for us today.

Sadly, our history has not just been forgotten; it’s been rewritten. Our historians and politicians no longer maintain our awareness of the founders’ beliefs and values, which resulted in America’s now-fading greatness. Sure, the Pilgrims emerged from a culture that retained slavery at the time—but it was the very faith and values of the Pilgrims and others like them that eventually eradicated slavery in first Britain and then the U.S.

Time is flying by too quickly, and our children’s futures won’t wait. We’ve got to do something now. Sometimes the only way forward … is to go back. There is nothing in today’s America that cannot be solved by a genuine going-back to the first principles held by the Founders. And that’s good news.

Our families are worth fighting for … aren’t they?

Movie Trailer:


My Review: This was a one night only event. When I first heard about it through Glenn Beck I knew I had to see it and take my mom with me. Due to my moms inability to sit in one place for a long period of time and her use of a car company that works on a tight schedule, we were unable to see this movie to the very end. I’m sure we would have been able to if the pre-show wasn’t so long. We would have planned better in that way. Otherwise, we saw about 80% of the movie and it was very educational. More than I had imagined.

I almost wished there were more light in the theater and I came equipped with a notebook and pen to take notes because that’s what the movie made me want to do. I vow to now visit the Founding Fathers Monument very soon so I can see for myself just how monumental it truly is. To know such a monument exists but not till this documentary did I ever hear of it astounds me! It should be discussed and be a school trip for everyone within a 300 mile radius of it!

If you don’t know about this monument I suggest doing your homework and there is no better place to start than this documentary. Kirk Cameron inspired me, not so much by the questions he asked, but by the facial reactions he had once he was told the answers and showed the proof. My shock was confirmed by the reactions of the rest of those in the theater as well. You think you know how we as a society were started? How the Pilgrims came to be here and how we formed from that journey? You have NO idea.

I recommend not only that you watch this movie but that you watch it with others. They may find it corny and unnecessary at first but once they hear the stories and see the proof (especially the part with David Barton) they will end up thanking you.

My Rating: A+

Will You…Run And Tell That?