Coconut Library

Big Boned :: Review

 
Big Boned by Meg Cabot
 paperback 384 pages
published 2007 by Avon Trade
 $7.00 at Powell's Books

Type of Book: {Beach Read: fluffy, mindless, easy to read}
Rating: {Eh: not my favorite, but fine enough to finish the book}

Why You're Reading This Book: 

•  You want a bit of mystery
• A tiny hint of thriller (the tiniest bit)
• A sassy, funny chick-lit heroine
• You enjoyed Book 1 and Book 2 in the series so you want to finish off with a bang

What I Thought:
This is the culmination of Meg Cabot's Heather Wells Mystery series. I listened to this last one on audio... don't do that. I enjoyed making up Heather's voice and style in my head and when I heard the actresses voice who read the book, it felt off to me. Heather was sly, sarcastic, a little out of the norm and the reader's voice sounded a bit like a Disney princess (audio publisher's do this often and I just cannot figure out why... I think it can destroy a book).

Though this was my least favorite (possibly because I didn't like the reader's voice) about Heather Wells, I still liked it well enough. Somewhat formulaic by this point, but at least you know what to expect and loose ends are tied up in this finale. 

Conclusion:
The search for Unputdownables continues!

Buy it from Powell's Books for $7.00 (and CL earns commission!)

Big Boned (Heather Wells Mysteries )
by Meg Cabot

July Book Club Selection :: The Madonnas of Echo Park

The Madonnas of Echo Park

by Brando Skyhorse

You can purchase this book at your favorite book seller. Or, by purchasing it from Powell's Books online, CL receives a small commission. Thanks for the support! (This book is as low as $16 on Powell's right now.)

Why This Book?
Over at the Coconut Library Book Club on GoodReads, we voted and the winner was The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse. This is the debut novel for Mr. Skyhorse and I am excited to read it! Not only does it look incredibly interesting, but I love supporting new authors!

There will be no set reading schedule, you're on your own. Read as fast or as slow as you like. Join the discussion on GoodReads (link above, and will be available by clicking the book image in the sidebar of this blog) throughout July. 

Jacket copy description:
We slipped into this country like thieves, onto the land that once was ours. 

With these words, spoken by an illegal Mexican day laborer, The Madonnas of Echo Park takes us into the unseen world of Los Angeles, following the men and women who cook the meals, clean the homes, and struggle to lose their ethnic identity in the pursuit of the American dream. 

When a dozen or so girls and mothers gather on an Echo Park street corner to act out a scene from a Madonna music video, they find themselves caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting. In the aftermath, Aurora Esperanza grows distant from her mother, Felicia, who as a housekeeper in the Hollywood Hills establishes a unique relationship with a detached housewife. 

The Esperanzas’ shifting lives connect with those of various members of their neighborhood. A day laborer trolls the streets for work with men half his age and witnesses a murder that pits his morality against his illegal status; a religious hypocrite gets her comeuppance when she meets the Virgin Mary at a bus stop on Sunset Boulevard; a typical bus route turns violent when cultures and egos collide in the night, with devastating results; and Aurora goes on a journey through her gentrified childhood neighborhood in a quest to discover her own history and her place in the land that all Mexican Americans dream of, "the land that belongs to us again." 

Heralding a new young ethnic literary talent: Brando Skyhorse's first novel gives voice to the Mexican-American community in Echo Park, CA.

 

Reading is Sexy {No Matter Your Species...}

 

Thanks to Amanda @ Opinions of a Wolf for this adorable picture!

If you are interested in submitting a photo, click here for information.  

 

The Shadow of the Wind :: June Book Club {Week Four - Final Review}

The Shadow of the Wind

By Carlos Ruiz Zafon

paperback, 487 pages. Penguin. $10.88

published 2005

I was initially attracted to this book because I heard from so many people that it was fabulous. That it was an unputdownable. While I can see the attraction (the story is unique and beautifully written) the pace of this book did not keep me wanting more. It is a strange, sad story with a very disturbing revelation towards the end. What this novel really got me thinking about was language vs. plot, and which was more important to me. This was brought up in a writing course I took, and, at the time, I didn't have strong opinions. Now I think I do.  

In conclusion I give this book 2.5 stars. For me it was somewhere in between "good enough to finish" and "enjoyable". 

:: see post for week one here ::

:: see post for week two here ::  

:: see post for week three here ::

Movie Madness Monday :: Your Mission If You Choose to Accept It...

 
image source

 

If you were approached by a top Hollywood producer saying that he/she desperately needed you to help in the development of a movie (because you're taste is so darn good). He/she would take care of all the funding but you would get to pick the script and the actors. One stipulation, the movie has to be based off of a book. Any book, any genre, but a book. 

Which book would you make into a movie and why? Who would star as the protagonist?

Sunday Salon :: My Reading Garden

 

 my cat waiting very "patiently" to go outside in the morning -- just moments before she was sitting on her haunches (bear style) pawing at the window

I finally have my own (very small) reading garden on the back patio of my townhouse. I live in the city, so I don't have any yard. None at all... not one blade of grass that is my very own. But I do have three patios, and in the three years I have lived here I have done nothing with them. They have been the last parts of the house to get put together. Namely because they're not incredibly private, so I don't spend a lot of time out there. However, the back patio off of my kitchen (pictured above) is possibly the most private so I decided to make it into a reading garden. I spent this week at Osh, talking with the people in the nursery, buying plants and figuring out how to get the trellises home (on which I am growing Jasmine to make a wall between me and my neighbors) in my little black Jetta (sticking out of both back seat windows, thank you very much). I bought the chairs at Rite Aid and had the little round stool already. So I got down and dirty and cleaned up the porch, planted the flowers, and added the chairs. Then I spent the next few mornings reading The Hunger Games out there while having breakfast. My cat (who is an indoor cat and goes out there with me on a leash -- not her favorite thing, but she's super fast and I don't need her jumping up a tree in the blink of an eye) now reminds me every morning, by meowing incessantly, that we need to go outside and eat water the flowers (she pays particular attention to the grass and I keep her away from the rest... and try to keep her away from the grass and direct her to her 'kitty grass' that I have near her food). 

I'm so glad I finally took the time to do this. I am really enjoying it! One of my favorite places to read is at my mom's house. She has a large courtyard that is to die for with an in ground garden that is incredible. We sit there often to read and talk and I love it:

    

     

 Recently, we got some chairs for another grassy area that we sit and read in, and it's heavenly in the afternoons with cool grass under our feet and the trees blocking the hot sun.

 

 

Someday, I will have a place of my own that is not attached to anyone else's home, that boasts grass and an in ground garden, and I will love it to bits and pieces. But for now, I will be satisfied with the new reading garden -- my little corner of the city. 

The Gettysburg Approach to Writing and Speaking Like a Professional :: giveaway

 

The Gettysburg Approach to Writing and Reading Like a Professional by Philip A. Yaffe

 Leave a comment below between now and next Friday (July 2nd) at midnight PST if you would like to be entered into the drawing to win this book!

'The GettysburgApproach' bridges the gap between effective writing and effective public speaking

Have you ever noticed that books about effective writing talk only about effective writing and books about effective public speaking talk only about public speaking, and never the twain meet? 

"This is a mistake," says Philip Yaffe, former writer with The Wall Street Journal and long-time international marketing communication executive. "If you write well you will probably speak well; if you write poorly you will probably speak poorly. Writing and speaking are intimately related and should be considered together, rather than as distinct disciplines"

To demonstrate the point, Mr. Yaffe's recently published book, The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a Professional, addresses the challenge head on. 

Inspired by Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address, the book examines the handful of underlying principles and practices that make this miniature masterpiece (only 272 words) perhaps the greatest single piece of prose and oratory in history.

“The principles of effective writing and speaking are few and easy to understand," he asserts. "Unfortunately, in most books on the subject, they are buried under an avalanche of verbiage about technique.” The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a Professional clearly separates principle from practice. The “theoretical” section of the book is very short, supplemented by a series of appendices of illuminating examples and exercises.

As the author points out, "Almost everyone agrees that a well-written text must be clear and concise. However, hardly anyone can tell you what these criteria mean in any practical, applicable way." 

For example, if you try to define "clarity", you will probably do something like this:
Question: What makes this text clear?
Answer: It is easy to understand.
Question: What makes it easy to understand?
Answer: It is simple.
Question: What do you mean by simple?
Answer: It is clear.

You in fact end up going around in a circle. The text is clear because it is easy to understand . . . because it is simple . . . because it is clear.

“All of these words are synonyms. While synonyms may have nuances, they do not have content, so you are still left to your own subjective appreciation. However, what you think is clear may not be clear to someone else,” Mr. Yaffe explains.

The book describes quasi-objective tests for clarity and conciseness. “If your text fails these tests, then it needs to be revised. If it passes them, then—and only then—should you concentrate on the mechanics of language (style, grammar, syntax, etc.) in order to make your already good text even better.”

The Gettysburg Approach also defines and describes a test for “density". This seldom-discussed third pillar of effective writing concerns ordering information for best effect.

Mr. Yaffe then shows that the basic principles of effective writing and effective speaking are essentially the same, but with some subtle and important differences in application. "The speaker can use eye contact, intonation, body language and other techniques not available to the writer to convey his message. However, as with printed words, if spoken words are not clear, concise and dense, the speech is destined to fail. Stage presence is the frosting on the cake; it must never be mistaken for the cake itself."
Returning to his underlying inspiration, in an appendix Mr. Yaffe compares Abraham Lincoln to William Shakespeare. "It is remarkable that The Gettysburg Address, a work of non-fiction, and the Marc Anthony soliloquy on the assassination of Julius Caesar, a work of pure fiction, technically have so much in common. This is further proof that the guiding principles of effective writing and effective speaking don't just overlap—they are virtually identical. 

"Treating writing and speaking as distinct disciplines not only makes them more difficult to learn. It virtually ensures that neither one will ever be properly mastered." 

The Gettysburg Approach is rich in feisty and original insights and observations. Although deeply didactic, it is anything but dull. As one reviewer enthused, “This book is really fun to read.” 

(The above was taken from the Press Release for this title). 

What's Your Favorite Genre?

I've been wondering what most of the readers of Coconut Library like to read. I have a feeling there is a mixture of favorite genres considering this site has a mixture of reviews. But I'm still curious. 

So, whatcha reading, people? Would you take a minute to vote on your favorite out of the genres listed below? (If you have a favorite that I didn't include in the poll, feel free to let me know in the comments section.) Thanks!

(Click the circle next to your favorite genre, then click on "vote" at the bottom)

Reading is Sexy {@ Every Age!}

 

Thanks, Zoe, for this week's super sweet contribution!

If you are interested in submitting a photo, click here for information.  

The Shadow of the Wind :: June Book Club {Week Three}

 

 

{Pages 145-366}:

We meet more characters -- 

Miquel Moliner :: Julian Carax's best friend and benefactor. 

Nuria Monfort :: What can I tell you about Nuria without giving plot away? She is a contemporary of Julian Carax and the wife of Miquel Moliner. She is also the daughter of Isaac (the keeper of the Cemetery of Books).

Penelope Aldaya :: The love of Julian's life. She becomes more of a central character through Nuria's letter to Daniel.

The Plot -- 

More layers are peeled away in the revelation of who Julian Carax is and why he is such a mystery. Daniel receives a letter from Nuria Monfort which gives the reader (and Daniel) the entire backstory of this novel.

My Thoughts --

The part where we start to learn about what happened from Nuria's perspective is interesting and begins answering some of the questions we might be having this point. Questions like, why are we reading this book in the first place. What is there to be found? She gives us the pivotal question. What happened to Penelope and why are she and Julian not together. You won't find out in these pages, but you will find out before the end. That's all I'm saying. Oh, well that and brace yourself. 

Your Turn -- 

What are your thoughts so far? (please make sure you don't say anything past page 366 as to not give away any important plot points).

See you next week for the final review of The Shadow of the Wind!

:: see post for week one here ::

:: see post for week two here ::