Potatoes Not Prozac – Kathleen DesMaisons (Health/Self-Help)

This book was recommended to me by a friend who knows all about my ridiculous mood swings and occasional lapses into mild depression. I’d been wondering for some time if they were being triggered (or perhaps just worsened) by the food I was eating, so I wondered if changing my eating habits would make a difference. The first few pages of this book described my symptoms perfectly… and I realized that, without a doubt, I am what is called a “sugar-sensitive” individual. Mmm… oh dear, even thinking about sugary foods is making my mouth water right now… okay, okay, book review. Stay focused.

So, the premise of this book is not to be a “diet book”, but to change your eating habits so that your blood sugar is stabilized, your seratonin doesn’t spike and drop (which can cause a lot of problems in mood, energy, etc), and your sugar cravings are controlled. Apparently she’s done quite a bit of research into sugar sensitivity and actually uses the program she’s described in this book to help alcoholics become 100% reformed (is that the right word?). Apparently 90% (or some crazy stat like that) of the people she’s treated never have a relapse, as compared to only 20% in a typical AAA program. But anyway, that wasn’t why I was reading this, just thought I’d mention it because it was interesting. Also, apparently this system is excellent for weight loss, because it reduces cravings and offers healthier alternatives for those times when you really just need to eat something. Again, not why I was reading the book, but my friend read it looking for some weight/health suggestions – and she was very pleased with what she read – and I believe has implemented some things mentioned in the book.

The title itself, “Potatoes Not Prozac” really just refers to a concept DesMaisons introduces in her final step of the book (I believe there are 7 steps), which involves eating a potato before you go to bed. The idea is that potatoes are nature’s perfect food, and eating one before sleeping will release regular amounts of seratonin while you sleep, helping you feel better and wake up refreshed. This part of the book was really the only thing I took issue with, because I heard from another doctor (on a radio program) that there is no scientific proof that this kind of thing has any effect whatsoever. I also mentioned the concept to a medical student, who laughed… so, while I can’t recommend eating a potato before bed (who knows, maybe it does work for some people?), I would recommend reading this book if you think you might be sugar sensitive and are looking for change/improve your diet.

That said, it doesn’t mean that I’ll be giving up ice cream or cake anytime soon. It just means that I’m going to be more aware of the effect that sugar has on me (ie. just thinking about walking through a bakery makes me salivate) and can make wiser choices according to my food “needs” and “wants”.

Rating: 3 coffees out of 5

Sabriel – Garth Nix (YA/Fantasy)

I’m so glad I took the recommendation to read this… and I’m also very glad I pushed through the first 50 pages! I’ll be honest, I was around page 45 and thinking “I really hope this picks up soon… why don’t I like it yet?!?!”, but just a few more pages in and I was hooked. It was entertaining, unique, and for the most part, well crafted. For the most part.

Nix obviously did his world building first, then placed his characters and story inside… because he neglects to explain how things work, and acts like the reader already knows the rules. Well, we don’t, and it would have been nice to have a little rundown. Even a cliche monologue to tell us the rules. Anything. Really!

Fortunately, after page 50 or so, you get used to it and just figure it’ll all work out in the end. It kinda does, and kinda doesn’t, but the story is still very good and leaves you wanting more. I’ll be searching out the next two books in the series, and hope that Nix takes the time to explain more (any?) world rules as the books progress.

With that warning in place: I definitely recommend this book. Let’s face it, with a female necromancer as the lead character, how can you possibly pass it up?

Rating: 3.5 coffees out of 5

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (Children’s Fiction… hah)

Let me start by saying: everyone in my town must be crazy, because I got this from the library and there isn’t even a waiting list. What?!? So strange. But anyhow, did anyone else see Gaiman talk about this book on the Colbert Report? Gaiman is incredibly quick witted, and the interview was quite funny… he held his own against Colbert, and it’s definitely worth checking out! It certainly improved my level of respect for the man: he can speak well AND write well!

But, back to the book. So much has been said about this book that I feel there’s little I can add, other than to go ahead and recommend it. There were a few occasions when the events of specific chapters seemed a bit random (but they were still very entertaining!) and I wonder if that’s the influence of the Jungle Book coming through, perhaps those were chapters that were modeled after Kipling’s work? After reading this, I think I will track down a copy of the Jungle Books and read them, as I suspect they’ll be very worthwhile and nothing like the Disney film (as great as it is!).

I wouldn’t say that the Graveyard Book is necessarily great reading for children on their own, but you know what? Children need more healthy fear in their lives, because sheltering them suppresses imagination… if I had a kid, I’d probably read this book with them and talk about it together.

In the end, it was a fun read with great writing, from an author who refuses to cater to the “norm” of today’s children’s fiction. I read it all yesterday afternoon, without a break – so when you pick this one up, be sure to give yourself a nice chunk of time to sit and enjoy it!

Rating: 4 coffees out of 5

Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot – Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (YA)

I always enjoy Wrede’s writing, and this book was no exception. It was one of those books that I’d been eyeing for years, but for some reason never had a chance to purchase… so when it was sitting blatantly on the shelf at the library, I figured it was time to give it a go. It’s actually a slower read than it looks – or at least it was for me – and I think that may be because it’s written in Victorian-style language. But that just means it’s a good book to savor, not blast through!

It’s written in letter-style, between two young ladies, and apparently (as stated by the authors in the back of the book) the book came about after Wrede and Stevermer actually just decided to play “The Letter Game” and write letters in character to each other for awhile. Then, when they later sat back and talked about things, they realized they had a book… and so they polished the letters up and the rest is history! I thought that was very interesting: a book that wasn’t intended as a book… I’ll be honest, I think it shows in just a few spots where the story dragged a little, but I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from picking this up. There are two more books after this one, and I’ve got them on the list to find the next time I’m at the library (or, let’s be honest, a bookstore). A worthwhile read!

Rating: 3.5 coffees out of 5

Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Jennifer Rardin (Paranomal Chick Lit)

Well… er… at least it’s over? Oh wait, no, there are at least 3 more books in the series. Blarg.

Let me put it this way: The author tries too hard, the characters are unlikable and undeveloped, the plot and worldbuilding is inconsistent (where it exists, mind you), and the logic is sometimes… jumpy, at best. So, why did I bother to read past the second page?

Because I picked it up telling myself: “And now I am going to read some crap, just because I feel like it. And not good crap, either.” Turns out I was right. I don’t think I’ll be looking for any other books in this series… there are just too many other good books out there to bother with something this mediocre.

Rating: 1 coffee out of 5

The Book of a Thousand Days – Shannon Hale (Children’s Fiction/YA)

I picked this up based solely on the merit of good reviews from others here on Librarything. I didn’t even bother to read the description on the book, so imagine my surprise when I started reading and discovered that it was a re-working of a very little known fairy tale! I actually didn’t find that out until about halfway through the book – tells you how engrossed I was as soon as I started – and it definitely helped the second half of the book make more sense, if you will.

Without giving anything away, the climax wouldn’t have made a whole lot of logical sense if it wasn’t based on a fairy tale – especially because we see nothing like “that” earlier in the story – but with that in mind, it’s easier to accept changes in the way the world works at the drop of a hat.

I really enjoyed this book, and I’m glad I picked it up! It was a quick read, and definitely worth the time spent. I’ll be looking for more by this author in the near future.

Rating: 3 coffees out of 5

The Wild Wood - Charles de Lint (Fantasy)

I’d heard some excellent things about Charles de Lint from members of the group here, so I was excited to read something by him for the first time… unfortunately, this book fell far, far short of my expectations. *looks around nervously* Sorry, everyone…

The story itself is about a painter who has lost the passion in her art, and has retreated to a cabin in the woods to recapture the passion again. She begins to see faces in the woods, and she receives some odd messages. In essence: the woods needs her help.

For whatever reason, after the premise was established, the rest of the book just didn’t do it for me. I found the ending to be rather trite and unbelievable, though I’m sure some people really liked it and probably found it ‘poignant’… but I was just frustrated.

I was very glad, however, that it was short book, and I won’t give up on de Lint just yet…

Rating: 2 coffees out of 5

Skellig – David Almond (Children’s Fiction)

I picked this one up on the recommendation of others, but I wasn’t really expecting anything from it. It didn’t “look” very good, and usually I get a pretty good sense from a book when I’m holding it whether I’ll like it or not (I jokingly call it my ‘book sixth sense’… okay, now you all think I’m crazy), and this one didn’t really seem like my kind of thing…

Was I ever wrong. I don’t want to get into plot details because I really think this is a book you need to experience for yourself, but let me say this: when you turn the last page of the book, after the last word has been read, make sure you give yourself a few moments. Allow the sense of the book, the words and the sentiments evoked to wash over you. Absorb the truth behind the fantastic. I finished this book in a coffee shop and had brought along an action-oriented chick lit book to read afterward, but I simply couldn’t do it – I didn’t want to tarnish what I’d just read.

Needless to say, I’m very, very glad I gave this one a try.

Rating: 5 coffees out of 5

Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants – Katy Payne (Nature/Science)

I picked this one up on a whim as I wandered through the shelves of animal books at the library, partially because it looked interesting, and partially because it looked like the shortest animal book there (and I already had a pile of other books to read). After reading it… wow. I think I would have seriously missed out if I skipped past this one, and I plan on tracking down my own copy to own.

Payne is first and foremost a marine biologist, in the sense that she spent a significant amount of time researching and studying whale communications. She’s an expert on echolocation, specifically the various frequencies whales use and the ins-and-outs of the correlation between communication & behavior. So, naturally it seems a bit odd that she would be writing a book about… elephants?!

Apparently one day, Payne visited a zoo and became curious about the way elephants communicate. After some observation, she formed some theories about elephant communication – centered around, you guessed it, echolocation and frequencies beyond human hearing – and decided to conduct some tests. The rest, as they say, is history.

Payne was only the second person to suggest elephants could communicate over vast distances, and it was her work that truly paved the way to a better understanding of these magnificent creatures. The first half of this book is packed with incredible anecdotes about elephant behavior (most of which I repeated to anyone who would listen, I was so amazed) and information about elephant society & structures. I raced through the first half of the book, mesmerized…

But when the second half hit, I slowed down. While still very important to read, the material becomes very heavy in the sense that difficult issues are addressed like poaching, culling, and the inevitable difficulties with working in an African country where the local governments aren’t always as cooperative as researchers would like (not to mention the corruption in some places). Payne details several meetings with governments and conservation groups where drastic decisions are made that affect the elephant populations, and not necessarily for the better. After reading some of these sections, I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit, just to let it sit before continuing. Still, it was important to read, and I’m glad I did.

I’d also have to say that the second half of the book dealt not only with the elephant studies, but also with the relationships between the people of the area, the researchers, and the animals (elephants, lions, et al). There are brief forays into ‘spiritual’ observations about the people (and their traditions) and several dreams that Payne has which relate to the animals, which seem slightly out of place, but I didn’t think they distracted too much from the core of the book. If anything, I thought it slightly intriguing that a scientist would include her spiritual experiences in a book like this, as strange as it was.

On the whole, I’m very glad I read this book. I learned so much more about elephants than I previously knew, and I have a greater understanding of what people go through when they dedicate their lives to observing and studying a species in the wild. My favorite part of the book was definitely the inclusion of behavioral anecdotes, which were fascinating – I’m inspired to read more about African wildlife, and would be interested in reading more about elephants specifically in the future.

Rating: 4.5 coffees out of 5

Hood - Stephen R. Lawhead (Historical Fiction)

This was the first in Lawhead’s new trilogy about Robin Hood, but it was far from being the ‘traditional’ tale as we know it today. Lawhead did an extensive amount of research concerning the beginnings of the ‘Robin Hood’ folklore (the first appearance of the legendary thief was in the 1200s!), and wove this tale from what he believes was the beginning of the Robin Hood myth. Thus, we have a hero whose story is set in Wales, away from Sherwood Forest, and a little more gritty and realistic than simply a tale of ‘merry men’. It’s set in the historical past, with real and fictional characters interwoven – similar to what Lawhead did with his Pendragon Cycle – so that you can truly begin to believe that this was something that literally occurred in history, but perhaps wasn’t retained as part of the period’s ‘official’ historical record.

I thought it was exceedingly well done, and I’m very much looking forward to the next book, Scarlet, where Will Scarlet – who else? – makes his first appearance.

Rating: 3.5 coffees out of 5

Golden Treasures of Troy: The Dream of Heinrich Schliemann - Herve Duchene (Ancient History/Archaeology/Biography)

Concise, brief, fluid… and some great photos. This was a quick look at the life of Schliemann and his contribution to archaeology, incorporating such elements as: his childhood, his training, his business ventures, his tendency toward lies, his archaeological digs & their controversy, and the basics of why archaeologists either love what he did for ancient history or wish he’d never touched a trowel.

The text is woven alongside photos and paintings from the digs, as well as treasures he found, and scans of various documents – it was very interesting to read the tale of Schliemann from beginning to end in this way, because during classes for my archaeology degree, we only heard snippets about him and his work (but mostly about the sites themselves, since my profs tended to speak of Schliemann with a bit of disdain… as it happens, this is not uncommon).

If you’re interested in the beginnings of the archaeological process in the Greek world, it’s worth the hour it’ll take you to read this 170 page book (really, there are a lot of pictures!). I got my copy from bookcloseouts.com for about $5, and it was certainly worth it.

Rating: 3 coffees out of 5

Helpless: A Novel – Barbara Gowdy – audiobook (Fiction)

I received this audiobook in the mail awhile back (an ‘add-on’ from a HarperCollins ARC) and finally got around to converting it from mp3 to CD format so I could listen to it in the car. Unfortunately, I wasted my time. I knew from the start that it wasn’t really my kind of book, but I was willing to give it a shot, in hopes that it would provide some level of entertainment during all the driving I do. To give you a sense of what I’m going to talk about in regards to how I felt about the story, here’s the description from the back of the disc case:

“Nine-year-old Rachel Fox has the face of an angel, a heart-stopping luminosity that strikes all who meet her. Her single mother, Celia, working at a video store by day and a piano bar by night, is not always around to shield her daughter from the attention – both benign and sinister – her beauty draws. When a summer blackout plunges the city into darkness and confusion, Rachel is taken from her home. A full-scale search begins, but days pass with no clues, only a phone call Celia receives from a woman whose voice she has heard before but cannot place. As Celia fights her terror, and Rachel starts to trust in her abductor’s kindness, the only other person who knows where the little girl is wavers between loyalty to the captor and saving the child. Will Rachel be found before her abductor’s urge to protect and cherish turns to something altogether less innocent?”

Now I’ll talk about what I thought, so **SPOILERS AHEAD**!!! …mind you, that description from the back doesn’t really leave much out from the book itself. In fact… I think the description from the book jacket gives away the whole darn thing. Sigh.

Anyway, I listen to this book with a sense of trepidation the whole time, worried that things were doing to delve into the disturbing realm of child molesting and I was going to have to turn it off, but fortunately, this didn’t happen. However, as the story progresses (almost all the ‘twists’ of which are revealed on the book jacket), we find the captor begin to struggle with his adoration for Rachel. Near the end of the book, it finally seems like his “love” for her is starting to get difficult to control, and it may turn into something else that he can’t control. He spends a lot of time convincing himself and his female partner that he’s not a perv and that he’d never do anything to hurt Rachel, but in the last chapter, he begins to struggle with the seeds of temptation. We already know that there’s something wrong with his mind – what kind of person would convince themselves they need to kidnap a child to “save her” from her own parents and then lock her in his own basement believing she’ll come to thank him and love him like a father for it??? – so this development isn’t strange.

In fact, this development coincides with the plot twist that Rachel, her captor, and his girlfriend are going to pack up and leave for Florida, since the police search is literally just about to find out where she’s being held. During the grid search, Rachel’s mother ends up at Rachel’s captor’s house, and we get a sense that she knows something is up and will come back to look again. So, they plan to pack everything and leave for Florida. Just as the bags are being packed, the captor’s girlfriend leaves with plans to go to the police station and tell them everything. We enter a scene with Rachel and her captor getting into a van with some suitcases, and it’s assumed that they’re going to leave the girlfriend behind, since they’re running out of time to escape. They begin driving, and the next thing we know, the captor pulls up a block away from Rachel’s house, says goodbye, and lets her go . What? No, seriously… WHAT???

This wasn’t hinted at. This wasn’t led up to. There are a few thoughts that flit through the captor’s head as they’re driving that suggest he might commit suicide (which really does NOT make sense, since it’s completely inconsistent with his character), but then after he lets her go, he drives off and the book ends. I literally sat in my car, pressing ‘rewind’ to see if I’d missed something, but no. That’s it. He lets her go without motivation, and then the ‘bad guy’ is off. Presumably Rachel will tell the police and they’ll find him, but maybe he’ll be dead by then…??? But… but… *holds head in frustration*.

All I can figure is: the author got lazy and didn’t know how to end the book. Or, no one bothered to read this book and edit for consistency. It was just too ridiculous, the way things ended, and I can’t recommend it to anyone… unless you like finishing a book unsatisfied. Oh well. I’m going to pass this one on to whoever wants it, but I can honestly say, I think someone would get more enjoyment out of smashing the CD than they would actually listening to the bloody thing.

Rating: 1 coffee out of 5