#64 (2013/CBR5) "The Runaway Duke" by Julie Anne Long

I should know by now not to start reading any romance novels if I want to get anything done--especially good ones. I picked up The Runaway Duke (2004) by Julie Anne Long this morning and now it's evening. I haven't done anything useful all day, but I'm done with the novel. Sometimes I think I need days just for decompressing and stress relief. That's what I tell myself anyway.

So, this is the second book I've read by Julie Anne Long and I think I like her combination of likable characters, adventure, danger, and mystery. Sometimes the coincidences bringing everything together were laughable, but since I was being entertained, I didn't mind.

Rebecca Tremaine grew up in a proper family, although she was never a proper lady. However, when she is caught kissing a man in the garden, her father decides she must marry him. Since Rebecca ended up in the compromising circumstance entirely by accident and has no interest whatsoever in her groom, who is kind of a douche, she decides she can't let it happen. Fortunately for her, her father's groom (Connor Riordan) is a duke who pretended to be dead after the war because he hated his father and didn't want the burden. He's been working as Rebecca's father's groom for the last five years and because he's basically fallen in love with Rebecca and can't stand to see her marry the douche, he decides to help her run away. I realize that what I just typed sounds somewhat ridiculous, but the unrealistic elements didn't bother me. The characters had good chemistry and I was entertained, so I didn't mind suspending my disbelief for a while.

This isn't just a story of a woman running away from her wedding and falling in love. There's a mystery involving Riordan's past, some murders, and some attempted murders. At first I didn't think the secondary stories were really necessary, but Long kept them interesting and I appreciated that all of her characters had some kind of humanity. Even the villains of their story had a background and rational reasons for their actions.

Two quick notes about the love interests: On the one hand, I was not comfortable with their age difference. Connor was about 30 years old, maybe 29, I can't remember exactly. Rebecca was 17 and turns 18 (conveniently) before they have sex, although I don't think they had statutory rape laws back then. She's just so young. Rebecca did act relatively mature. As long as I ignored her age, I was fine, but when I actually thought about it, it grossed me out. On the other hand, I really appreciated that Julie Anne Long did not depend on the time honored romance drama of having one or the other not realize that they love the other, be afraid of it, or not want to admit it. SPOILER: It was so refreshing when Rebecca said "I love you," after they'd made love for the first time and Connor simply says it back to her. I can't remember any other romance novel where that happens.

#63 (2013/CBR5) "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

I was going to wait until I could get Allegiant (2013), the third book in the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth from the library. I'd really gotten into the first book (Divergent), and only kind of liked the second one (Insurgent), so I wasn't in a huge rush to finish up the series. However, some of my friends started up a new book club, and I wasn't able to wait.

Allegiant picks up right where Insurgent left off. Unfortunately, Insurgent didn't exactly enthrall me, so I had trouble recollecting both the plot and most of the secondary characters. Roth apparently doesn't like to recap, so almost all of the secondary characters remained pretty meaningless to me.

I'm struggling with a review here, partly because I'm exhausted, and partly because I just don't feel strongly about this one. I was disappointed. I liked the first book, but the second and third just didn't do it for me. But I also didn't really dislike it, either, so I just don't have much to say. As far as young adult, dystopian trilogies go, I'd have to vote for The Hunger Games.

First, I did not like how Roth added Tobias's viewpoint to the story instead of sticking to Tris's. It made Tobias seem like a much less interesting. All of a sudden, we were in his head and he was angry and scared and it was like he was a different character entirely. Most of the time, I could not tell who's head I was in, and it made me feel disconnected. Actually, my problem with Tobias's perspective and the rest of the book are somewhat intertwined. Roth went off in a direction without giving us the basis for understanding or caring about the world. The first book spent a significant amount of time setting up the factions and Tris's life and how she found her place in it. I thought it was fascinating. Jump to the third book and none of that means anything anymore. I also did not understand how living in factions in Chicago helped with genetic purity and all that other nonsense. I stopped caring.

SPOILERS:

When Four and Tris are fighting in the middle of the book, it felt manufactured just to use up some time and allow them to get back together.

There seemed to be a lot of complaints about the ending. I glanced at some Amazon reviews before I read this book and even though none of them actually spelled out what happened, I could tell that either Tris or Four died by their level of shock and outrage. That was kind of annoying. Once I saw that Four had chapters from his point of view, I figured it was Tris who died because we'd need his perspective once she was dead. I was sad that they didn't end up together, but I didn't particularly mind Tris dying. It did seem to fit with her character and added some realism to the whole thing. So many people in that world were dying, it's unlikely that both Tris and Four would survive.

#62 (2013/CBR5) "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl (2013) by Rainbow Rowell is her third book and the third one by her that I've read. In fact, Rowell is on my list of "read everything she writes, no matter what the topic." Rowell's latest book centers around Cath, a young woman from Omaha, Nebraska, leaving her father and home for the first time to attend college in Lincoln. Cath is a strong introvert, also dealing with social anxiety and self esteem problems. Any new situations are challenging, so the upheavel in her life that college represents is very difficult for her. Cath's twin sister, Wren, is also starting college, but instead of sustaining their comforting pairing, Wren wants to break out and meet new people. Cath's life is centered around writing fan fiction for a young adult fantasy series, and it is this that she uses to avoid dealing with her real life. The book follows Cath through her first year of college. Like Rowell's other books, this was a nice, sweet story, with realistic, likable people dealing with their own personal challenges. Cath deals with some heavy problems, including her relationship with her mother and mental illness in her family, but the main focus on the story is Cath growing into her life.

Like Rowell's other books, this one was hard to put down. I read it in a couple of days, completely ignoring my NaNoWriMo obligations, preferring to find out what happens to Cath--wondering if it was ironic (I'm not good with irony) that Rowell had written Fangirl during NaNoWriMo.

I don't want to go on and on about what happens in the story because it's worth reading and you don't need to know anything going in. However, this was my first real exposure to fan fiction, and I found my mind wandering a bit as I read. To start off, very review I've read has said the fantasy series Cath is obsessed with is basically Harry Potter, which sounds about right. However, Rowell mentions Harry Potter in her book as well, making her world a world with two wildly popular, magical, teenage fantasy series. It's hard to imagine such a thing. Also, I know there are tons of exuberant fans of Harry Potter, but is there this kind of fanfic surrounding the story? Are people on the internet hooking Harry up with Draco Malfoy? Or would they hook him up with Ron Weasley? I'm almost curious enough to look, but I'm afraid once I go down that rabbit hole there's no going back and I want to remember Harry as J.K. Rowling wrote him.

***SPOILERS***
Although I loved this book and would enjoy reading it again, I did find Levi a little too perfect. Sure, he kisses another girl after he kisses Cath but that's about it. Levi is nice to everyone, he's smart, he's caring, he's good looking, and persistent as he pursues Cath. How many college girls can sit in their dorm rooms, interacting with no one and then the perfect guy shows up and tenaciously breaks down all her barriers through months of disinterest and/or hostility. That just doesn't happen, at least in my world. As real as most of the character's felt, Levi seemed like he was straight out of a romance novel. The relationship in Eleanor & Park felt much more balanced.

#61 (2013/CBR5) "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

I had, of course, heard of In Cold Blood (1966) by Truman Capote, and I think I've seen at least parts of Capote with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Despite all this, reading an entire book on a series of grisly murders never really appealed to me. It wasn't until I saw In Cold Blood up at the top of a list of favorite non-fiction books on Goodreads, a list that was full of other books that I'd read and loved, that I figured I should see what I've been missing.

In Cold Blood tells the true and detailed story of two men who met in jail, got out on parole, and killed a family (the parents and two younger teenagers) at a rural farm in a small town in Kansas. Capote hits all sides of this crime. You learn all about the victims, the murderers, the hunt for the two men after the fact, the killers' run from the law, the trial, their ultimate punishment, and how all of this affected the people living in Holcomb, Kansas.

What kept me going in the beginning of the book was wanting to know the motivation for the crime. As I began reading, I didn't know exactly who was fated to be murdered. So, as I learned about each doomed family member, I was hoping that they would somehow survive and was always sad to learn that their lives were cut short. Capote managed to give me a great feel and caring for each character in a short time. I was, however, less interested in the stories of the two who committed the crime: Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Their thinking and actions were so convoluted and nonsensical, I had a hard time understanding their motivations, actions, and attitudes. Although their background was helpful to learn, I was pretty much always looking forward to getting back to Holcomb and learning what was going on there. It was only at the end when Capote gave us the psychiatrist's insight into the two characters that I began to understand them a little better.

While I was reading I wondered what Capote was trying to do with this book. I worry about exploitation with topics such as these. This family had already been through terrible tragedy, and now people are digging into every aspect of their lives to satiate the demanding curiosity of a morbid public--especially when those crimes have just occurred and are fresh on the public's mind. But at the same time, it's refreshing to read an account that takes the time to get the details right instead of screaming out some sensational headlines and not caring about the people involved.

I did read online that there have been allegations that Capote made up some of the scenes in his book. I definitely find that annoying. If you're going to call your story true, then don't make shit up! Apparently, the scenes involved, though, were relatively minor, so it doesn't take away from the overall story.

I can see how this book became a classic. I've read non-fiction books similar in style, but none written before 1966. It sounds like this was a trailblazer in its field, creating the true crime drama. It was kind of dark, and certainly sad and depressing, but interesting and well written. I'm glad I read it.

#60 (2013/CBR5) "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

I can't remember when or where I first heard of Breadcrumbs (2011) by Anne Ursu, and I really didn't know what I was getting when I started reading. It turns out that Breadcrumbs is a book probably aimed for kids in middle school. The main character, Hazel is 11 years old. She is an adopted child from India, whose parents just recently divorced. Her best friend Jack is her support in life and gives her life meaning. But he suddenly changes and then disappears one day, forcing her to set off after him to bring him back.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I was very impressed with Ursu's depiction of growing up and friendship. Hazel's struggles as an outsider were compelling and felt realistic. Some of the lines felt poetic in their ability to describe Hazel's feelings and her situation.

But after I became fully involved in Hazel's life, struggles, and friendship, I felt blindsided when unexplained witches and evil things without names were thrown into the story. I'm okay with fantasy elements, but I still want them grounded and following some kind of ground rules. I appreciate that Hazel's fantastical journey led her to realize some things about herself, but reading random adventures where anything can happen took all the tension out of the story. Sure, Hazel always had the admirable goal of saving Jack, something that brings her through her journey. However, most of Hazel's actions in the story aren't purposeful. She has no understanding of the consequences of her actions. She's just guessing and groping around in the forest. I'm sure that can be a great metaphor for life, but it also made for a frustrating reading experience.

I'm not sure if I would recommend this book, perhaps only to those who like stories like Alice in Wonderland, so they won't mind the random fantasy elements. I kind of wish that Ursu would have left out the fantasy and wrote more about Hazel in the real world because she was a fascinating character.

#59 (2013/CBR5) "Twelve Years A Slave" by Solomon Northup

Even after seeing the trailer for Twelve Years A Slave, the movie, I wasn't really thinking about reading the book. Slavery is so dark and so brutal that I figured even watching the movie would be hard. I wasn't sure I wanted to delve into a detailed account of what appeared to be a bitter story. But then I saw a positive Cannonball review and figured I'd have to read it. So I picked up a brand-spankin' new copy of, Twelve Years A Slave (1853) by Solomon Northup from my library.

It took me a little while to get used to the formal writing style. The beginning of the story is chock full of new names, characters, and places that I had trouble keeping straight. It was also in the beginning that I most felt the need for a historical commenter to put some of the events and customs into perspective. Although I've read a small bit about slavery in the South, I'm not very knowledgeable about living conditions and restrictions for free blacks in the North. I wondered if it was unusual that Solomon would leave for D.C. without leaving his wife a note. I also wondered how prevalent kidnapping like Solomon's was in that time period--especially after Britain declared the slave trade illegal. Solomon certainly ran into a number of other kidnapped free men on his journey south.

But then I got into the story, and I became so involved with Solomon's life that I couldn't put it down. Solomon has a pretty varied view of slavery and how it affected him. Having endured both a kind man and a heartless asshole as "masters," as well as work with sugar plantations, cotton plantations, carpentry, and playing the violin, Northup had a broad view of different aspects of slavery. He goes into the day-to-day drudgery and fear that encompasses a slave's life. The fear of a whipping for: not working fast enough; not picking enough cotton; not waking up in the morning. In fact, because escape was almost impossible where he was located, the only slaves he reported of trying to run away were those that were too sick to work but couldn't stand being whipped anymore for not working. It was their only choice.

Also, because of Solomon's upbringing as a free man and his education, he had a unique view of how the oppression of slavery affects people. He often noted differences between those that were born slaves, never knowing freedom, and those like him who had been forced into it later. Considering what Solomon went through, I found his account remarkably objective. He speaks highly of the people that treated him well, and acknowledges that there were men and women slave owners who were great people that only accepted slavery because that's what they grew up with and all they knew.

Some of the most disturbing stories were those of the women that Solomon came in contact with on his journey. One woman was torn from her children after expecting freedom and never got over it. In addition, Patsy, a slave that Solomon worked with for ten years, was a fantastic, good-natured worker, picking more cotton than anyone else on the plantation. Yet, she lived a tormented life, stuck between the master who raped her repeatedly and her jealous, vengeful mistress who blamed Patsy for the master raping her. Even besides Solomon, if there were anyone I most wanted to pluck out of the pages of that history and give a reprieve, it would be Patsy.

The trailer for Twelve Years A Slave looked promising. I hope it does some justice to what Solomon Northup and his companions suffered.

#58 (2013/CBR5) "The Omni Diet" by Tana Amen, B.S.N., R.N.

The Omni Diet (2013) by Tana Amen is another one of those books I spotted on the "New Books" shelf at the library and picked up on a whim. I'm a sucker for nutrition books. I like to read and compare them, and the premise fit with what I've already decided is healthy eating.

Tana Amen is a nurse and was apparently plagued by health problems for years. She experimented with a number of diets and came across what she calls the "Omni Diet," which involves eating 30% lean protein and 70% vegetables. Tana Amen is apparently the wife of a famous minister and also works with Dr. Oz. I'm not familiar with any of these people, so all of that name dropping didn't do anything for me, but it's likely that Amen already had a strong following before she wrote this book.

On the whole, I like what Amen recommends, and I like how she discusses the pretty dramatic effects that different foods can have on your body. Her diet recommendations are pretty straightforward and pretty strict. Basically, if you eat lean meat and vegetables, your body is going to be much better off. She limits most grains, all sugar, most salt, and all dairy. She also recommends eating organic--for both vegetables and meat (free range, too). There are some smaller sections on recommended supplements as well as a quick chapter on exercise with a beginning exercise program you can do at home. The end of the book consists of probably over one hundred pages of recipes.

I'm certainly not so strict with what I eat, but I like the idea of eating primarily lean protein and vegetables, so I agreed with much of what Amen had to say. However, her ideas seem like a combination of the Paleo Diet and the Zone Diet. She takes the principles from each, but seems to pretend that she's come up with some brand new way of eating that she's discovered.

This book focuses on motivating those with really unhealthy lifestyles. The exercise section, especially, seems geared toward those that never exercise and are intimidated by the idea. I actually got annoyed by her harping on how excessive exercise was bad for you and moderation was key. In addition, Amen promises a lot of weight loss in her diet, something that is not my primary focus.

Even after the many diet books I've read, I still found some helpful information on the best oils to use and some advice on supplements that was new to me. On the negative side, there were no footnotes. Amen often wrote in generalities to support her point, but the reality is often more complicated. Once, while disparaging GMO's, Amen stated that obesity, cancer, etc. had all increased since GMO's have been introduced. I think there could certainly be some problems with GMO's, but there are a million reasons why the disease rates have increased, some of which she'd already gone over in her book. She was discussing possible effects that weren't even clearly correlated with GMO's let alone caused by them. In addition, Amen does not appear to appreciate the significantly increased cost of some of her recommendations. Organic, free range meat is not only difficult to purchase, but it is also prohibitively more expensive.