this one summer. jillian tamaki and mariko tamaki (229)

in my usual fashion now due to all of the book pages i follow on facebook, i do not remember where i first heard of this one summer. i do know that emma roberts instagramming it is what inspired me to put in my request.

in an ideal world, i would have enjoyed this book on a beach somewhere.  however, my sister bailed on the labor day plans so i read this at home on the couch.  though in all honesty, i am not a beach person and i would felt bad if i got sand on the cover.  (i would like to add that it would have made a good beach read cos i finished it in about hour.  which makes me worried, but i mean it is all dialogue and pictures.  i always feel like i read graphic novels too quickly but i guess that is their nature.)

before i go on, i want to add one last tidbit that this one summer is written by jillian and mariko tamaki, who are cousins! so sweet right!! thought that was cute little fact.

so first off the artwork is amazing in this graphic novel.  the pictures felt so realistic in the scene that often times i stopped because they felt like a photograph.  it's not that the drawing looked real but felt like a memory. 

this one summer is a coming-of-age story, rose learning that life isn't easy and nothing is as seems in one summer.  every year her family goes to awago beach.  it reminded me of my summers as a kid going to los osos with my uncle boon and his family.  though it wasn't the same because i was not exposed to any of the things that rose encounter.

rose's had a summer buddy, windy, that she hangs out with.  windy was younger than rose and hilarious.  she reminded me of jack black and even looked a little like him.  and just like jack black, windy was very entertaining but borderline annoying.  i did love her hip hop dancing and her adolescent obsession with growing boobs.  oh and windy also had the habit of saying kidding, which rose harps on her about, but i realized that i do the same thing.  

rose and windy's summer adventures include swimming of course and my favorite, one afternoon of playing mash!!!!  loved that.  i want to add that i kept on trying to place them in the 90's which is my childhood but justin bieber was listed for mash, which made this story like circa 2011.  oh well.  they also start watching scary movies like texas chainsaw massacre, jaws, and nightmare on elm street and scare the bejesus out of themselves.  

rose also developed a summer crush on the older boy that works the market where the girls rented videos.  windy dubbed him the dud.  the dud had some drama.  his girlfriend got pregnant and like an asshole, dud was in denial that it was.  rose, in love with him, believed that his girlfriend cheated on him and told windy that the girlfriend was a slut.  rose then goes on a rant about girls not being able to take care of themselves.  it was said to read rose being so naive but this is this one summer where she grows up.  windy, thankfully, had the good sense to call rose out on her sexism!  

in addition to dealing with hormones, rose was also dealing with her parents divorce.  her mother seemed to be suffering from depression and she and rose's father are constantly fighting.  rose, being young, does not understand why her mother was acting that way and sided with her father, treating her mother poorly.

in the end, after the dud's girlfriend was saved from drowning, by rose's mother.  it was discovered that her mother was depressed due to a miscarriage that had occurred in the lake.  after this discovery, i hoped that her mother would be honest with her family and hopefully things would get better.

the graphic novel ends with rose heading home, none of the story lines are truly resolved other than she and windy mend their friendship.  we don't know if dud and his girlfriend work things out or not.   however, that is how life is, sometimes things go unresolved and we take what lessons we can from it. we move on and it just becomes a memory or a story like "this one summer . . ."    

here is my favorite art and moments:

windy's boob talk.

the walk home when rose gets in trouble for using the word slut.  (note the slut steps.)

when the girls play mash.  i find it funny how we girls pass these games along.

their counting for mash!!!

windy's grandma was hilarious.  and they were virgin drinks!

after a fight with her mom, rose ran out this man told her she should go in due to the lighting.  she was rude to him.  this was his response but great advice for any girl.

the calder game. blue balliett. brett heloquist. (228)

while at the albany park library, when subbing, the book spine for the calder game caught my eye.  was it about the artist, alexander calder? i amazoned it and was, so i put in a request at the library.

the lacma had a calder exhibit a while back and i remember being in awe of the mobiles.  just like the characters in the novel, i was impressed by their balance and the movement.  there was not too much movement with all the pieces though in its little own little pocket, a slight flow of air moved the mobile, "snow flurry" which i thought was magical and my favorite!!  so i was excited to see what the novel had to offer.

i have to say that right off the back the bat, the epigraphs were a quote from alexander calder and banksy!!!

the calder game is actually the third in a series that center around a preteen boy named calder and his bests friends petra and tommy.  they are like a mini mystery solving team and a little reminiscent of harry potter and his gang down to petra and hermione both having hair issues.  calder is name for alexander calder, (which i thought i was adorable and i might steal if i ever have a boy) his parents loved alexander calder's work around chicago, where they live.  i have been to chicago but was unaware of the massive calders that are there.  i would like a trip back to see them especially universe in the sears tower.  i think i went to the sears tower but i do not recall universe. oh well.  i have been to the mca which is where the calder exhibit takes place in the novel.

the calder game opens with the calder and his friends on a class trip to visit the exhibit.  they are with a strict teacher and so are unable to fully enjoy it.  i have to add that these kids were also some serious deep things for their age.  however, i hope that their love and insight about the art would inspire kids that read this work to visiti museums.  calder discovered a room in which guest were invited to create their own mobiles as part of the calder game.  sadly, their strict teacher does not allow them.

then, calder received exciting news that he is going to england with his father.  his father is going for work and calder to gets to tag-a-long.  they are both in shocked when they arrive because in the square of the small english village they are staying in is a calder sculpture, the minatour (which the author made up).  calder explored the village on his own,  which i found shocking because he was only twelve but it was a small town.  in his defense, he is very bright for his age though he can not spell for the life of him which i found out of character.  but i guess the author wanted him to seem his age.  as calder explored he began to learn that the village is not friendly toward americans and hate the calder sculpture which was donated by an anonymous donor.

then one day, calder and the minatour go missing.  they are two events seem unrelated.  it should be added that there is suspension banksy might be behind the missing sculpture. sadly calder's mother became injured on while packing for her trip over there so unable to come.  due to this, mrs. sharpe, a friend from previous adventures (aka books) decided to go to england and bring tommy and petra.  due to this mrs. sharpe reminded me of mrs. basil e. frankweiler.  however, mrs. sharpe is a bit uptight which is odd because she suggested taking the kids.

once in england, they all set on their ways to find calder.  i assumed that with the name game in it there would be sort of game that kids solved but there wasn't.  what caused the sculpture and calder to go missing was simply a series of random events.  in the end, calder is saved and the sculpture recovered.  i won't ruined the surprise.  but if you are anticipating something like the westing game look elsewhere.

i have to add the illustrations in the novel have calder code (a code the kids made up) hidden in it but i couldn't find them so gave up, so there is that for kids.

all in all, i think this is great book to hopefully get kids excited about art! i think it's great that it is filled with so much information on calder.  it is also filled with the history of that area of england.  i hope the other novels are like this and plan on reading those soon.

confetti girl. diana lopez. (227)

confetti girl caught my eye while subbing in a fourth grade class.  i thought to myself, this is my life and so i instagramed it.  i also decided to check it out from the library.

confetti girl was seriously my life.  well at least the cover and the first three pages.  so as an introduction to the novel, there are instructions on how to make cascarones . . . or confetti eggs!!!!!!  seriously my life.  i discovered confetti eggs via my cousin tina, who had them one easter and her house.  one year i took the extras to coachella and they were life changing!!  and they totally became our thing.  after that every year, i made confetti eggs and decorated them based on the bands that were playing:

they improved over the years but i will say that i am pretty legit!  so was super excited to see cascarones mentioned in this book.  (random sidenote:  my friend once saw cascarones at olvera street in la and was shocked because he thought it was just something i did, not a mexican thing. lol). oh i should add, lina and her friends are mexican.  they live in corpus christi and yes, the selena convention center is totally named-dropped!

the next thing was the dicho, or mexican saying, listed for chapter one.  all the chapters have dichos and they are all compiled in a list at the end, but the one that started of the book was "los amigos mejores son libros" or "books are your best friend"!!! which i totally believe! though lina, the main characger, wasn't a bookworm, her father was and also an english teacher.  books that were named-dropped included watership down (which i need to read) and one hundred years of solitude!!! 

the other dichos i enjoyed were:

buñolero, ¡haz tus buñelos!

(buñelos maker, make your own buñelos, or mind your own business).

*i could like this one partially because buñelos are delish!

las mentiras no tienen pies

(lies don't have get so they can't travel on their own.)

el camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente 

(the shrimp that goes to sleep gets carried away by the current.)

hasta el diablo una vex fue ángel

(even the devil was once an angel)

great words of advice and mini life lessons for lina and the reader!

and last but not least, lina had a sock collection!  just like me!!!!  i know seriously my life.  but the parallels stop there. 

confetti girl is the story of lina, short for apolonia, a girl in middle school.  she lives with her father and had recently lost her mother to an illness.  this lost along with being a preteen resulted in some drama in her life.

lina's trouble started when her english grade began to drop.  bitter toward her father's pressure to love books, lina failed english and was unable to play sports.  i thought this was good lesson for kids.   the teacher did not make an exception for her and she had to suffer the consequences of letting her grades slip.  

on top of that her best friend, vanessa, got a new boyfriend and began to neglect lina.  though lina had a crush that later became her boyfriend, but they had issues too.  lina was then constantly fighting with her best friend and boyfriend.  there was also a boy that teased lina and i thought it would be revealed that he liked her, but didn't happen.

in the end, thanks to the help of the school therapist, lina discovered what she needed to do to get life back on track.  lina had been making up summaries for watership down because she was not reading it.  howrver,  the summaries were her life told via the characters.  the school therapist saw this as a means for lina to work through all of her problems. the therapist had lina finish her story which then became the basis for her talking to her dad about her problems.  in the end, everything gets resolved and ends in a huge confetti fight!

a cute read and great for preteen girls. and also because ever girl should know how to make confetti eggs!!!

wallflower at the orgy. nora ephron. (226)

after reading heartburn, i decided to check out more of nora ephron's writing.  i decided to start with wallflower at the orgy, don't worry it has nothing to do with an actual orgy but its based on a saying about journalists.  thus, wallflower at the orgy, is a collection of articles, ephron wrote between 1968-69.  not only did i learn a lot of pop culture history but also that pop culture history does in fact repeat itself.

"the food establishment:  life in the land of the rising soufflé (or is it the rising meringue?) discussed a foodie history was unaware of.  the article discussed the cattiness in the food establishment primarily between two individuals, michael field a cook and cookbook writer and craig claiborne, a restaurant/cookbook critic.  i must be honest i was unfamiliar with them.  i did know julia child, of course, and it was interesting to read about james beard the person and not the award.  due to that i wasn't into all the gossip that ephron divulged but i will say that i wasn't surprised.  from what i have learned via top chef and hell's kitchen, chefs are egotistical so not surprised by this type of cattiness.  what i enjoyed learning about was this rise of the gourmet explosion due to "the traveling fighting men of world war two, the postwar travel boom, and the shortage of domestic help, all of which . . . [drove] housewives of america into the kitchen." this resulted in dinner parties and the hostess trying to serve the mostest.  though ephron believed that attention to be called to development of curry as a dish at dinner parties that went along with the gourmet explosion.  i found all of this interesting because i think reality tv shows like top chef and hell's kitchen plus the food network had resulted in a second gourmet explosion for the every man.  i am example of that i grew up in the middle of nowhere where red lobster and olive garden were nice meals out to worry about michelin stars, james beard awards, celebritiy chefs, etc.  plus sites like yelp makes everything thing they are food critics.  so it was interesting to see what had came before all this.  and it's interesting how cookbooks were what spread the first gourmet explosion.  though i love food, i have never picked up a cookbook in my life to cook.  so we are very definite generation of gourmet seekers.  i also found the predictions on where the food establimsnt was headed interesting. poppy cannon believed it would last because "it is a basic art."  while others believed it was on the out since "food of the future will be quite different:  precooked, reconstituted, and froze dishes with portion control."  oddly enough both are right.  fine dining is different an art, especially with new developments like molecular gastronomy, fusion trends, etc.  but also fast food definitively rule too, though american so not know what portion control

is.  i feel like ride the line between the two, i go out and have nice menus but am not above the dollar menu at mcdonalds.  but an interesting article, and i wish i could learn about the food establishment history.

i also enjoyed "if you're a mouseburger, come with me.  i was a mouseburger and i wil help you", which was about helen gurley brown.  i only recently learned of helen gurley brown and sex and the single girl via cnn's "the sixties" series.  i definitely want to read that, so was excited to read this article.  the article gave background to helen gurley brown and also talked about how she transformed cosmopoltian.  i was never a cosmo reader, i have read it but never picked it up faithfully.  and though helen gurley brown was a bit of a mess, with all the crying that ephron described her doing, she was amazing based on her dedication to help women.  the one thing that i found shocking was the fact that she wanted to help women know that they could shower while on their period.  i can't imagine a world in which women didn't, but i am sure it happened, i remember being worried as a kid but can't imagine being an adult and worried.  and i am glad helen gurley brown made sure women knew that they could.  and that is the great thing about women's magazines like cosmo is that its a venue to discuss all the embarrassing things that happen to us women and we are able to see how we aren't the only ones self-conscious about our bodies.  again, i found it interesting how pop culture history repeats itself or maybe in this case stays the same.  today we women do need tips about our hairpieces (though nowadays we call them extensions), false eyelashes and how to get bigger boobs (or at least look like we have bigger ones), and how to have a great orgasm.   it's funny because one forgets how these things have been around forever, you think your generation is to have all of these beauty and sex secrets but they have been around for years!  and i mean how amazing was helen gurley brown for wanting to make sure our boosoms were treated right!  i also adored her spunky way of talking (see: the title).  i am going to start using her "hot-fudge-sundae-kind-of-pleasure".   another favorite was 

self-help . . . i wish there were better words, but that is my whole credo.  you cannot sit around like a cupciake asking other people to come and eat you up and discover your sweetness and charm.  you've got to make yourself more cupcakeable all the time so that you're  better cupcake to be gobbled up."  

brillant!  i am now excited to read sex and the single girl.

"makeover:  the short, unglamorous saga of a new, glamourous me" was a hilarious read especially considering my time on how do i look?.  (quick story, i was on it for wearing too much sequence but got a complete makeover, which included the chopping of my hair!)   ephron's description of the makeover is spot-on especially the reactions to the make up.  i remember once i got my make-up down at a mac counter and my friend's first reaction was "wow! that is alot of make up" which kind of sadden me cos i thought it looked.  this friend said the same thing about the how do i look? make-up but he was spot on.  they caked it on, i mean tv make-up is insane.  they kept telling me that i had great skin but they still caked it on.  (i do have great skin, they weren't just being polite).  ephron was really on pointe with the after.  it is true, once i was done, i realized i couldn't do that make-up or style my hair and extensions like they did.  also know one gave me a tutorial so all i was left with was how i could be tv beautiful with only the help of specialists.  lol

loved the article on women's wear daily "women's wear daily unclothed".  i also loved that i could google the picture of greta garbo that was discussed.  i had never heard of women's wear daily, but i would have loved it.  it was a great bitchy magazine, like the "tmz" of fahsion. and again a demonstration of how pop culture repeats itself, prior to people loving the trash of "tmz", "keeping up with kardashians" actually anything on e! or bravo.  also louis fairchild, who turned women's wear daily into what it became reminded me of andy cohen.  prior to andy cohen making housewives legitimate via his shows on bravo, fairchild made the ladies legitimate via his magazine.  again interesting how pop culture repeats itself.  also loved how they called on a young caroline kennedy, so mean but hilarious.

also enjoyed reading about mike nichols because i loved the graduate.  it was also great to read about how much fun they had on the set of catch-22.  though i have to say that sadly the movie wasn't that success because people do not revere it nowadays like they do the graduate.  but i plan on reading the book and watching the movie.

those were my favorite articles and just some random other thoughts about the other articles.

the ayn rand article.  i will probably never read fountainhead but that is partially due to mitt romeny and his love of atlas struggled.  i was tired of hearing about that book during the last election.  but more proof of pop culture repeating itself.

the article about erich segal and rod mckuen.  can't say they were as revolutionary as they thought they were.  i have never heard of mckuen.  i have heard of love story but that was because it was an amazon daily deal and saw it in tim burton's dark shadows (i have a thing for reading books alluded to in movies though this was more like the characters read it during a montage).  though this whole idea of teens practicing sexual abstinence comes and goes, recently it was jonas' brothers and purity rings and twilight (i think bella saved herself for marriage.)

the bill blass article.  i remember him from like the 80s, i think, but i saw on wikipedia that his brand dissolved.

jacqueline susann article.  love machine reminded me of 50 shades gray especially with ephron's talk of masochists but i think her talk was more about women who have no backbone when it comes to men versus actual chains and whips.  but again pop culture repeating, both are poorly written novels that get women reading!  also i want to read valley of the dolls.  i have seen the movie.

fommer article.  interesting to see how frommer travel books got started.

and her fiction.  a fun little story.

all in all, an enjoyable read.  i look forward to reading more of works.  

cora cooks pancit. dorina k. loza gilmore. (226)

i came across cora cooks pancit, while looking for books to read with my little friends.  i initially checked it out for myself, i was excited to see a book that featured a filipino character!  i was hoping to make pancit with them but we didn't get a chance to do this.

before i go on, for those non-filipino friends, pancit is a noodle dish kind of like chow mein but in my opinion, way more tasty.  my mom actually makes a really good pancit and after reading this i am hungry and hope i can convince her to make it for dinner!  i should also admit that pancit is a recent love for me.  i was a picky eater as a kid so avoided it as an adult but now i will eat it anytime i see it!! 

cora cooks pancit is the story of a little girl cora that dreams of helping out in the kitchen with grown-up tasks!  i, for one, thought she was lucky that she had the kid task of licking the spoon.

one day, her mom asked her want she wanted to make.  she had a vision of filipino food dancing in her head:  

yum!! and she decided on pancit.

the recipe she learned, is her lolo's or grandfather. he used to cook for the filipino field workers when he came to california.  

this reminded me of my grandpa jimmy.  he did the same, but he cooked food from singapore.  also, it doesn't say so but i am going to picture cora's lolo in delano, since the field workers picked grapes.

cora helps her mom.  she makes some errors but that is fine because it is bounded to happen and she makes a delicious dish for her family.

this was a sweet story and i recommend it for a funny family night.  there is a pancit recipe in the back so you can read the book then make some!

also is you are filipino you should definitely check it out!!  nice to see a children's book celebrating our culture 

like no other. una lamarche. (225)

unfortunately, once again, i don't remember the website that recommended una lamarche's like no other but the premise, an hasidic girl falling in love with a west indian boy after a chance meeting sounded interesting.  just like i am racist reader in the sense that i like indian authors, i do the same thing with jewish characters, which is one of the reasons i decided to check out this ya novel.  i was intrigued, because i had no idea how the orthodox girl was going to make this relationship work!

the novel switches back and forth between narratives from the star-crossed lovers, devorah, a 16-year-old, goody two-shoes, hasidic girl and jax, a nerdy yet responsible, west indian boy.  they met one night when trapped in an elevator at a hospital.  devorah was at the hospital to help her older sister, rose, who was in labor.  jax was there because his friend was injured skateboarding.  however, the trouble with their relationship started right off the bat, with their chance meeting.  being trapped in an elevator with jax was a violation of devorah's religion, it was a violation of yichud.  females are not allowed to be alone with another male.  the law also restricts talking to males, so devorah tried to not talk to jax but being trapped in an elevator she decided to, to not be rude.  they actually had a great talk, devorah explained her religion and they even flirted a bit.  their meeting ended with them listening to the shirelles on jax's phone.  this was also a violation because devorah's parents did not allow her to have a phone, watch tv, or listen to music.  when the power came back on they went their separate ways not thinking anything more would happen between them.

however, they both can not stop thinking about each other.  devorah was actually the one that saw to their meeting again.  she stopped by jax's work while running an errand for her father.  this meeting was the beginning of their sneaking around to see each other.  devorah had to keep it a complete secret due to her religion.  jax lied because in order to see her he had to miss work, thus lying to his boss and mom about where he was.  it was difficult at first because they did not have any means of communication because of devorah's family's no technology rule.  however, she snuck onto facebook to message him and jax later gave her phone.  it was difficult but they managed as best they can. 

in the end, they are caught while trying to runaway for the weekend.  devorah's brother-in-law, jacob, who in my opinion was an asshole though i have to recognize that he was just following his religion so i can't hate him too much.  and this is no disrespect to hasidic judasim but his behavior seemed outrageous because i am an outsider.  i can't imagine my husband not being allowed to touch me after childbirth because my body has bleed, i get it for periods but not for childbirth.  and his racism though inexcusable was due to his culture.  however, his beating up jax and then lying about it was extremely uncalled for and i was shocked that jax's mother did not go after them.  

due to their discovery, devorah's family sent her away.  she believed that it was to rehabilitate her and make her more faithful but in fact, they had sent her to be matched for marriage.  jax then went off to try to save her.  in the end, devorah realized that though she loved jax, they could never be together due to her religions.  she could not give up her faith for him.  

i admired this ending, because it felt real.  as much as i wanted everything to work out for devorah and jax, it was impossible.  and though devorah cared for jax, she didn't want to sacrifice her religion and family for him and that is understandable.  she had to do what was best for her and she made the right decision.  i also admired how devorah and jax were very mature about their break up and left the relationship as better people.  i think that is an important lesson for young adults to learn.  not all relationships work out, but instead of being bitter and upset, one should recognize how that person helped you become a better version of you. (and if that relationship was toxic then how you are a better person for leaving it.)  

from devorah, jax gained the self-confidence to be honest about his feelings and also learned how to be a good boyfriend.  from jax, devorah learned that she was capable of more than what her religion alloted for her.  she could be more than a wife and a mother.  she could go to school and she could learn.  her education could be a goal for her instead of marriage.  i admired devorah for asking her family to allow her to continue to her studies.  and i think this ending was better than one that would have been about true love.  it's refreshing to see that the girl did not need the guy for a better life.  

like no other contains wonderful lessons not only demonstrating how we should be tolerant of other cultures and religions but that also girls do not need to be restricted by cultural and religious gender roles.  i hope that young adults pick up this novel, it's a wonderful story that will help them become more thoughtful adults. 

friendship. emily gould. (224)

emily gould's friendship was listed on flavorpill's must reads for july.  they wrote:

As the title suggests, it’s about friends, sure — but Gould’s debut novel strikes at something deeper by accurately portraying the life, times, and struggles of people that toe the lines between Generation X and Y, complete with David Foster Wallace and Stevie Nicks quotes for an epigraph. With Friendship, Gould has given us something honest, moving, and important.

their description was right on pointe.  it is about friends but it also felt very real and reminded me of my own life.

i actually cringed when i read the first couple of pages because i was unsure if i was ready to read about late twentysomething dealing with unemployment and lack of a career.  but i after reading about how bev's goals in life went from "serve god, marry a good christian and raise children in the ways of the lord" in high school to "read every book, as far away from the midwest as possible and never turn down an opportunity to get shitfaced" in college, i felt like we were kindred spirits.  i went from mormon to alcoholic in the course of 4 years of college. 

as flavorpill mentioned it did capture the struggle of my generation, and i do feel stuck between y and x.  i am old for "girls" but too young for "sex and the city" but oddly identify with both!  but yes, my generation thanks to the recession have all ended up in this weird unemployment funk.  i am happy to report that most of my friends survived it but i ended up like bev, stuck with temp work (i actually substitute teach but same diff.) but enough of that woe, though kudos for gould portraying it right.  oh and before i go on, totally get the whole spending fiasco of amy, i don't buy crazy designer things but i do go out and blow hundreds of dollars on fancy meals but life paycheck to paycheck.  this gen x/y lifestyle cost quite a lot!  it's cost money to be stayin the know!

but back to the novel, friendship is the tale of two friends, bev and amy.  they met via work and became besties. however, when we meet them they are both on the cusp of life disasters, though they don't know, we, the readers don't know it either but alas that is life.

*spoilers from here on out (if you are a female gen x/y-er stop here and check it out.)

when we meet them bev was unemployed and temping.  she pulled a felicity dropping out of grad school to follow her boyfriend to somewhere for him to attend law school.  amy worked for the jewish equivalent to buzzfeed.  she used to be some perez hilton-esque social media celeb but screwed over the wrong celeb and now was at the jewish buzzfeed.

okay i really just wrote that back story to provide some distance for the spoiler, i am about to drop . . . bev gets pregnant from a one-night stand.  and i want to discuss it in the context of the movie, obvious child.  (if you haven't seen it stop here and see it!!!)

i just saw the film because i love jenny slate but it actually turned out to be a wonderful film and must see for all women.  in the film, jenny slate's character, donna, becomes pregnant after a one-night stand.  she, however, chose to have an abortion.  i have never been in that situation but felt the film dealt with it very honestly.  we see donna go to planned parenthood on her own, having no idea what is involved and being unable to afford it.  we also see her tell her mother and she discovering that her mother understood what she was going through instead of being disappointed.  we also saw donna at the clinic.  and it wasn't classic hollywood where she ends up with the guy and he decided to become the father, which i was grateful for though it is implied that they may end up dating.  you just have to see it!  but i really admired it for its being an apolitical portrayal of abortion though i recognize that abortion within in itself is political.  also donna is a comedian which helps lighten up the movie.  it's really great and slate was amazing! go see it!

back to bev, she went to have an anortion but could not follow through with it.  instead she decided to keep the child and try to raise it on her own though with the help of a friend, sally.  there was a brief juno moment where amy wanted to find a rich family to adopt the child which is how sally entered the picture.  though the exchange ala juno never occurred.  i appreciated this storyline because becoming pregnant actually helped bev get her act together.  it was nice to see her grow from the situation (oh and don't worry i won't be taking a getting any ideas.)

while bev grew, amy took a stumble.  she lost her job, her apartment, her boyfriend and had an affair with a married man!  as a result, she and bev end up fighting.  the classic tale of bff projection.  the unhappy friend projects their fears and worries onto the other friend lecturing them on life which results in a fight.  this has happen to me, i have been on both sides.  

and in the end, this is what truly felt real to me.  our friendships are often interrupted by life and sometimes they survive and other times the fall apart.  i have two friends that i loved very dearly but our friendships got complicated by life. it's tough because i think of all the great memories i have with them and realize how much the person i am today is due to them, but sadly we are no longer close.  it's my fault, my pride, i am like amy.  i should be like a bev and reach out to my friends.  i should add i feel like too much time has passed and one friend in particular has moved on well beyond me.  

in the end, i was happy that bev reached out to amy and i hope and assume that all became well between the two of them. you can't have a book called friendship end on a sad note.

this was a great read, and i plan on reading more of gould's work.  

the book of unknown americans. cristina henriquez. (223)

i first learned about cristina henriquez the book of unknown americans via flavorpill. i thought the title was clever and the cover eye-catching but in all honesty wasn't sure if i wanted to read an immigrant story.  this sounds harsh but living in delano which is a migrant town due to the agriculture i have very conflicting views of immigration.  on the one hand, i am sympathetic toward the need to immigrant however i also disapprove of the financial strain it causes.  as i have mentioned before, living in delano, which is filled with immigrants, i do see the drain it takes on the economy.  but politics aside, since i have addressed this in previous posts, i will simply be discussing the novel.

the book of unknown americans was an enjoyable read with a ending that took me by surprise.  (if you plan on reading this, stop here due to spoilers!)  the novel is told from the perspective of multiple characters but centers around maribel rivera and her family.  maribel rivera and her parents, alma and arturo immigrated, legally, to delaware from mexico so that maribel may attend a specialized school. not shared initially, but it is discovered that  maribel suffered a head injury from an accident at her dad's work site back in mexico.  they immigrated at the recommendation of doctors.  both parents, shared with the reader, the guilt of the accident being their fault.  their experience as immigrants is familiar.  arturo work in the states was inferior to his work in mexico, he worked picking mushrooms which was mindless work and took a toll on his body.  alma stayed at home, and discovered ways for the family to survive on arturo's low wages, primarily dollar tree and oatmeal.  alma also befriended their neighbor, mrs. toro, whose son mayor played a pivotal role. 

mayor was an outcast, not a soccer star like his older brother, who was away at college.  he was initially attracted to maribel.  maribel, as explained by both alma and mayor, was a beauty, so much that she attracted the negative attention of  local hoodlum.  this worried both alma and mayor (the boy also bullied mayor at school.)  mayor realized that maribel was special needs due to the school she attended, however, due to trips to church on sundays and afternoons the families spend together, a romance begins to bloom between maribel and mayor.  mayor, it should be mentioned, being sensitive to maribel's condition due to the accident.  however, they end up having a positive effect on each other, ultimately mayor helping maribel progress.

but they are still teens and not at all innocent.  hormones did get the best of them and they end up making out which results in some drama because a noisy neighbor ratted them out and made it seem more devious than it was.  it was very innocent though mayor did come, but i mean he was a geeky kid making out with the girl he likes, poor guy.  this resulted in their parents forbidding them from seeing each other.

this triggers are series of chain events with a surprise and devastating ending.  mayor and maribel sneak off together.  he helped her sneak out of school and took her to the beach, even though it is winter, he wanted to share with her the happiness his mother felt when she first went there (it was in the winter.)  he even gave maribel, her first taste of mcdonald's french fries.  and the whole time i read about mayor and maribel's adventure, i was waiting for the other shoe to drop.  i expected them to get into an accident or something horrible to occur  to the two of them.  gratefully they were okay, but sadly something did but it was not what i expected.

when maribel went missing, alma assumed it was the hoodlum and told arturo what happened.  arturo sent out to find her . . . and ended up being killed by the hoodlum's father.  i was so surprised and sadden by this ending.  it was completely from left field but not completely unrealistic.  the sad truth is that so many immigrants come to america expecting a better life, but most probably end up in tragedy like this.  they end up not living the american dream but scraping by.  they sacrifice to be here and end up worse off than they began.  i know i said i was going to avoid anything political, but you have to be somewhat sympathetic.  from this ending,  henriquez wants us to see how immigrants usually end up with the short end of the stick and never achieving any sort of better life, so we should not feel threaten by immigration into the states.  and though we view them as anti-american, they are actually pro.  the last narrative of the novel belongs to arturo and he shared his love for america, because he of the opportunity it provided maribel with it.  its a heartbreaking catch-22, come to save your daughter but end up losing your life.   though, the cynic in me, can also see it as advocacy for not immigrating, why risk what you already have to end up with absolutely nothing.

the book is titled the book of unknown americans and "the unknown americans" in the novel also include the other immigrants that lived in the complex building where maribel and her family resided. there are breaks between the narratives of alma and mayor, in which the other immigrants share their experience.  these narratives are to demonstrate that there is not just one kind of immigrant, or one kind of story.  though it should be noted that all of the immigrant narratives did share the common goal of providing a better life for their children.  and though i would probably end up debating with him if he existed in real life "micho alvearez" narrative had some very interesting points.  

the whole thing is very, very complicated.  i mean, does anyone ever talk about why people are crossing?  i can promise you it's not with some grand ambition to come here and ruin everything from the gingo chingaos.  people are so desperate, man.  we're talking about people who cant' even get a toilet that works, that the government is so corrupt that when they have money, instead of sharing it, instead of using it in ways that help their own citizens, they hold on to it and encourage people to go north instead.  what choice do people have in face of that?  

i understand his points.  but i counter with, america has its own problems, we are no longer the great powerful nation we once were.  i feel that our government is so corrupt that it takes the money it has and instead of sharing it with its upright citizens, end up using it to aid illegal immigrants, house criminals in prison, and reward those who do not want to work (see: welfare and unemployment.)  if the financial situation in california was not so bad, i would be okay with helping our fellow man but at the end of the day, i would rather have my tax dollars returned to me than funneled somewhere else.

okay, i am done with my rant, sorry if i offended you.

but an interesting read none the less and you should check it out regardless of your stance on immigration.

find it in everying. photographs by drew barrymore. (222)

i had heard about drew barrymore taking pictures of hearts that she randomly comes across from my friend tiffany.  she had told her friend sama to enter drew's instagram contest because sama always finds hearts in things too.  i had no idea drew turn her photos into a book, but she did.  i saw it at the beale library and decided to check it out.

the book is photos of drew barrymore finding hearts in everything.  here are my favorites:

in a friend's tee.

in her cup of tea.

i think this is from the restaurant a-frame.  i texted my friend larry for confirmation.  we both agree that the bowl is definitely from a-frame, but neither one of us can identify the dish.  he also thinks the wood is too light but i think it's just that the light is on in the restaurant.  it's normally dark in there.  

sidenote:  larry and i have seen drew barrymore dining there one night, so it could be a-frame.

in chicken patties?  i am assuming these are chicken patties.

and on her tee while brushing her teeth.

it's a sweet little book.  it would make a nice gift for someone.  and i guess i will now be on the lookout for finding it in everything.

mr. peabody's apples. madonna. (221)

i came across madonna's mr. peabody's apples while looking for books to read with my little friends.  i think i bought a copy back in the day but never read it and its prolly in storage somewhere.  i decided to check it out and finally read it.

i want to add that it made me sad because i think i was the first person to check this book out.  it is in too nice of condition for a kids book.  i know kids don't know who madonna is but shouldn't their parents be excited and check it out for them?  so sad.  and i mean the book was marked 2011, that is  three years! poor book!

mr. peabody's apples is the story of mr. peabody, a history teacher that holds weekend baseball game for the boys in the town.  the boys are not very good at baseball but they have fun and that is all that matters.  one day after a game, one of the boys, tommy, saw mr. peabody take an apple from a market and not pay for it.  he then told the other boys that mr. peabody stole apples.  this gossip then spread to everyone and they then shunned mr. peabody.  the boys stopped going to the games and the townspeople stopped waving hello to him because they thought he was a thief.  when mr. peabody discovered the news via a boy named billy, he took billy to the market and the owner explained that mr. peabody paid for this apple every saturday when he paid for the rest of his groceries.  billy then told tommy, who apologized to mr. peabody.  tommy asked what he could do to make things right and mr. peabody told him to bring a pillow to the baseball field. mr. peabody then had tommy cut it open and shake out all the feathers and then told him to pick every single one of feathers up.  tommy said it is impossible and mr. peabody replied that each feather represented a person from town and that the damage from the thief rumor would be impossible to undo.  he then reminded tommy that "next time, don’t be so quick to judge a person. and remember the power of your words.”

as i was reading, i kept on asking myself, i wonder what the moral is going to be.  madonna was pretty direct with this one, no need to read between the lines.  i also wondered if this story was based on a jewish folktake, because i mean this was written in madonna's kabbalah era.  and i was right there too!  she addressed that the story was inspired by a story she heard via kabbalah.  well in nicer words, i am just paraphrasing poorly.

a nice story though kind of morning.  i mean if it didn't say madonna on the cover, i would have never thought the material girl wrote this.  i mean when she was spiritual she still had an edge, and there is no edge here.  i mean i never thought madge could be boring, but i guess she can.

also the illustrations were nice, very americana.

this one was my favorite:

check it out, because it is madonna, but don't expect it to be amazing.

secret pizza party. adam rubin and daniel salmieri. (220)

i picked up secret pizza party by adam rubin and illustrated by daniel salmieri so i could make mini pizzas with the girls i babysit, avery and audrina.  though the pizzas turned out weird cos i used pillsbury grands so they puffed up too much.  they were more like pizza biscuits.  but we all enjoyed the story!  esp me!!

i had a feeling i would love it because i love their other book, dragons love tacos.  i love tacos so it's a bit of a no-brainer.  i love pizza too, so again loved this book.

the book is about a raccoon that loves pizzas but people never want to share or give him any.  the raccoon decided the only way to get pizza is to have a secret pizza party!  and thankfully it is a success!!  

the book is funny and features random yet hilarious things for kids and adults to enjoy as well.  the illustrations are great too!

i loved the inside cover.

this cute little ode to pizza (i instagramed this pic).

loved the adjective, pepperoni-ness

i also loved how the book demonstrated how the adjective "secret" can make a world of difference:

last but not least loved the raccoon's "mask" at the party.

an adorable book that you should check out and definitely have pizza with it!

astonish me. maggie shipstead. (219)

i discovered maggie shipstead's astonish me via mashable.  they had posted 24 must-read books for summer 2014 .  they described it as 

Maggie Shipstead's first novel Seating Arrangements debuted to massive praise and won the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction. In Astonish Me she explores the haunting and sometimes painful world of professional ballet.

professional ballet?  i decided to check it out.   

in my usual fashion of requesting books and then forgetting how i found out about them, i searched for posts about this book and came across one that made it sounded like a suspense thriller.  when i came across that article, i was not thrilled about reading the book, but it turns i must have misread that blurb.  also i have to add with the more contemporary authors i read, the more names i recognize on book covers now!  for example, maria semple is on the front cover of this one!  and jeffrey eugenides is on the back, i'm really shocked that he wasn't give the front, but i guess where'd you go, bernedette is more current.

astonish me was an enjoyable read and not just because i understood the ballet terms.  the story centers around joan, an american ballet dancer.  though never prima ballerina material, she was vital to the professional ballet world because she helped arslan rusakov, a russian ballet dancer, who was very talented and would go on to become very famous, defect in 1975.  i must admit that i wasn't sure what defect meant initially but i guess it happened a lot during the cold war so pardon me for being young.  joan and arslan were lovers but it ended, partially due to his success.  joan then became pregnant and married jacob, a boy that was in love with her throughout high school.  the novel covers her life and the life of harry, their son.  another thing i must add is that though joan is the main focus, we learn a lot about the other characters, learning very intimate details about everyone.  i must add that all characters large or small contribute to the story and affect the course the story runs.  i enjoyed this because that is how life is, we may not see it, but in someway everyone we encounter leaves a mark upon on us that does affect our fate.

**there will be spoilers, there are some surprise turns in this novel, so i recommend reading it first, but if you don't care, continue reading

the novel covers about 30 years and jumps around time wise, as well as character wise.  i guess the best way to discuss the novel is how it ends.  in the end, it is discovered that harry is not joan and jacob's son but joan and arslan's son.  i was caught off guard though elaine, joan's friend from her ballet days, provided foreshadowing.  elaine had seen a picture of harry as a young child and knew that he would become a great dancer. this did not make sense to me when i read it but i caught on.  even when arslan and harry danced together, i didn't completely catch on, i had to go back and reread that last line to see that it was meant as foreshadowing as well, probably confirmation for brighter people.  harry was a brilliant dancer but it turned out to be his genetics.  this came as a complete shock to everyone, only joan knowing the truth and elaine having her suspicions.  also well-played by shipstead, allowing the reader to read too much into the situation because she never said that harry was jacob's. she even had jacob question joan's pregnancy in his head.  he and joan talking about her being on the pill and her not being direct in her reply.    

jacob and harry, sadly, discovered the truth from ludamilla's, arslan's ex wife, though arslan went to her knowing she would spill the beans.  arslah wanted her to tell them because he had plans for a ballet of his life and of course it would have to include the truth of harry being his son.  the ballet was a concept came up by arslan and his new wife.  okay here is another twist, so arslan ended up marrying . . .  harry's ex-girlfriend chloe!!!  harry and chloe grew up together as neighbors, joan even took chloe under her wing to help train her for ballet.  chloe was not that great of a ballerina and harry ended up breaking up with her because he thought that he was better than her because he was the better dancer.

quick digression, harry's rejection of chloe was an example of how history repeats itself.  arslan rejected joan because he can never partner with her in ballet as he wished.  also joan felt insecure about her dancing causing her to feel unworthy of being arslan's lover.  fast foward a couple of years, harry rejected chloe for the same reasons that his father rejected his mother.  

i was shocked that chloe ended up with arslan.  simply because i didn't like chloe, though i guess my dislike was due more to her parents then her.  her father did commit suicide, but they were both such horrible people.  also i didn't like how she was so mean to harry when he was in love with her in high school. 

another digression, though same notion of history repeating itself.  harry's love for chloe in high school and her keeping him as a friend, was the exact same situation as jacob being in love with joan and she doing the same.  just some food for thought.

in the end, the ballet happened.  jacob, hurt from what had occurred, did not want to go, but went for harry's sake.  he and joan end up sitting next to each other and i hope they end up back together.  the story doesn't say so, but that is how i am going to end it.

the very last section of the novel, we learn why arslan chose joan to help him defect.  i couldn't handle her neediness and constant questioning of why her.  her insecurities is what i think resulted in their relationship ending.  it's interesting to see how she went from being the reacher in her relationship with arslan to the settler in her relationship with jacob (google, if you are unfamiliar with "how i met your mother" reacher and settler theory.)  anyway, i think joan's inability to see her boldness is what caused her relationship with arslan to flourish.  however, i do believe that having jacob as his father allowed harry to become the successful dancer that he became.  if he had known that arslan was his father, the pressure to follow in his father's footsteps would have been too much.  and i think that this is what made the book a enjoyable read, life doesn't always work out the way we want it to, but it doesn't result in a bad life.  

all in all, a great ending to a great book.  i enjoyed it and will start looking to mashable for recommendations.  and i think i will read shipstead's other novel.

oh and before i close i have to add two things about elaine and mr. k.  first, i wish i was elaine's friend back in the late 70's doing coke and going to random clubs.  and second, author's need to stop making gay/bi/questioning characters die from aids, this is the second book i have read recently that a gay man died from aids.  i mean i know it happened but still.  though i should be nice and say that i have read one book in which the person with aids doesn't die.