Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I recently read Eleanor & Park and absolutely loved everything about it(you can find my review Here ). So I decided to check out more of her stuff, as you do. Landline was her most recently published book and unlike Eleanor & Park it isnt YA. So I thought I've read a lot of YA lately (I'm unapologetic about it, I'm no book snob) I'll give it a go. Also I thought it would be interesting to see the differences if any. You can tell this is written for adults from the get go but it's still very much just as enjoyable as Eleanor & Park.

Georgie McCool is a thirty something mother of two. She's the career mom she writes sitcoms with  her best friend Seth, loves her job and does it well. She's at the peak of her career. Her personal life  however isn't in such great shape her marriage is in trouble and has been for some time but they are still very much in love with each other. Her husband Neal stays home with the girls and does the cooking and cleaning and Georgie comes home late most nights exhausted from long hours of work. Work that she loves. Neal's not mad about the industry Georgie's in. It doesn't appeal to him, in fact he hates it but he's supportive of her. Georgie gets the opportunity to get herself and Seth's dream show up and running but it involves her putting in more hours and working Christmas. Which would be fine only the family is supposed to be flying out to Omaha to stay with Neal's mother for Christmas. The tickets have been bought and Santa has been informed. Neal isn't happy with this and decides to go to Omaha with the children without Georgie. Which means Georgie won't be with them for Christmas.

Georgie is in serious denial at first about what is actually happening when Neal and her two young daughters head off to Omaha. At first she's convinced everything is okay that her and Neal are fine and that he hasn't left her but later on she's not so sure. She becomes a mess without Neal not really sure what to do about their marriage or how to fix things. She calls him everyday but he doesn't answer. She speaks to the children and his mother but he is always off somewhere or with Dawn his neighbour and ex-fiancée. Georgie's mother is also convinced that the marriage is over and asks her to come have dinner. Georgie finding it hard to go back to her now empty house ends up staying at her mothers every night. She calls Neal from an old yellow rotary telephone she bought from a thrift shop when she was a teenager. But the Neal that answers isn't her Neal but a younger version the one that left and went to Omaha after they had a fight when they first started dating and then showed up on Christmas Day with a ring and proposal. Georgie feels like she's going insane at first but she just goes with it. Maybe she can fix all this by speaking to Neal in the Past.

Anyway I'll say no more and let you find out the rest for yourself. It's very witty and intelligent. You really get to know Rowell's characters they are so vivid. You become invested in them and want to know what's in store for them. Rainbow Rowell truly is a magical writer and I look forward to reading all her other books past and future.

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The Queen Of The Tearling by Erika Johansen

Before this book was even on the shelves of our local bookstores it was already snapped up by the movie industry. Emma Watson is said to be set to play protagonist Kelsea Raleigh Glynn. Who if I'm honest is the most fascinating heroine I've come across since Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games.

Kelsea is not depicted in the usually way we are accustomed. She is no renowned beauty instead she is plain, round faced, intelligent and temperamental. She is in all honesty a breath of fresh air and far more identifiable in my opinion.

You would be forgiven for believing that the story is set in the past but in actual fact it seems to be set in the future. The reason you may be given this impression is that there seems to be very few modern conveniences and people wield swords , ride horses and dress in medieval attire. There are also very few books as when the people of the Tear made the crossing from America they were only allowed bring a four books each. Kelsea's foster mother Carlin Glynn had an extensive library which contained many classics such as The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings as well as Rowling's seven works this if I had been in any doubt before made it clear that this book is actually set in the future.

The Queen Of The Tearling is Erika Johansen's debut novel and having finished reading it I am very glad that it is book one of a trilogy. I very much look forward to reading the rest of this tale. With characters like The Mace, The Fetch, the Red Queen and Kelsea I find it hard to believe that anyone would dislike this book but I have read a few negative reviews and the main issue seems to be based on the following line:

"And for all the anguish that Kelsea's own reflection had caused her lately, she saw now that there was something far worse than being ugly: being ugly and thinking you were beautiful."

I did not become enraged like many other readers have by this statement maybe I don't really see what is wrong with this particular viewpoint. The lady Kelsea is thinking about is an ugly person and by an ugly person I don't mean just aesthetically she is ugly on the inside. So maybe that is why I didn't find myself outraged by this particular thought. 

All that aside I liked the plot. It appealed to me. Kelsea is raised in a cottage from infancy by her foster parents Barty and Carlin. The best way I can think to describe Kelsea's foster parents is that Barty is good cop and Carlin is bad cop. Barty is soft and loving towards Kelsea and Carlin is stern and the enforcer of lessons and punishments. Throw the two together and they are a super parent designed to help Kelsea become a good person and a good ruler. Kelsea's mother was not a good Queen and her kingdom has suffered greatly for her mistakes as a result. Kelsea will have a great task ahead of her if she is to fix her kingdom and right all the wrongs of her mothers and her uncle The Regents rule. That is if she survives the trip to the Keep to be crowned and stays alive long enough to rule.

I will now have to patiently await book twos publication and I can hardly wait. I also really hope that the Movie does the book justice.

Graphic Novels #1 I never thought a mouse would make me cry

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

This is my first review of a graphic so bear with me as I'm not sure if I have the hang of this reviewing thing yet.  Maus is the story of Art's own father Vladek's experience and survival of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. It's hard to explain the feeling you get when you read about such horrors. It's for want of a better word gut wrenching. I thought the effect would be lessened by the fact that the Jews are depicted as mice and the Nazis as cats but it really wasn't and it somehow made it even more upsetting.
That awful feeling washes over you when you read something like this the one when everything feels strange and wrong and you can feel the cold crawling over your skin. Then the tears arrive try as you might to keep the watery substance from leaking out of your eye sockets it inevitably becomes too much. In all fairness you would have to be made of stone to not be upset by the Holocaust.

All the dialogue is written in the way his father spoke which was a lovely touch as it added to the reading experience you could almost hear Vladek's accent as you read. Art's relationship with his father isn't all sunshine and rainbows either his father is a hard person to deal with but it's apparent that they loved each other none the less. I like how he didn't make his father or their relationship look perfect he showed himself and his father flaws and all. That was very brave and truthful of him and if I'm honest makes it a more enjoyable read. He also doesn't depict his father as a victim although he undoubtedly was but instead he comes across as much more, as a survivor someone who did everything and anything he could to survive, someone who was resourceful and extremely lucky at times. He wasn't always a likable person but you still felt for him. I would have liked to have read his mothers Anja's point of view too but alas that was not meant to be.
Overall this is very personal book about how a man and his wife survived all odds despite horrific circumstances and found one another again. I really can't speak highly enough of this book. It is probably one of the most honest and personal accounts of the Holocaust I have ever read.

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