Book Review: The Side-Yard Superhero by Rick D. Niece

Title: The Side-Yard Superhero
Author: Rick D. Niece
Publisher: Synergy Books
Publication Date: March 1, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 192 pages
Age Group: Adult, non-fiction
Series: Life in DeGraff: An Automythography (book 1)

Rick D. Niece recounts his time growing up in DeGraff, Ohio in The Side-Yard Superhero. In this first book of a trilogy, readers are introduced to some of the colorful characters of Niece's childhood, including a young man named Bernie Jones who is wheelchair bound due to cerebral palsy. Rick and Bernie become friends when Rick takes time on his paper route to really get to know Bernie.

I very much enjoyed getting to know the people of DeGraff through Rick Niece's memories. Each of the people that the reader meets along the way had some sort of impact on Niece's life and helped shape him into the man he is today. The stories flow easily, as if the reader is actually listening to Niece remember. He easily conveys the warm feelings that he continues to carry for these people and this town.

Interspersed with the stories are poems. These poems demonstrate strongly how large of an impact these people had on Niece's life as he searches for some universal truths or meanings in the experiences they shared.

The Side-Yard Superhero is a wonderfully written memoir and a fantastic beginning to a trilogy. I am looking forward to the next two installments and learning more about the folks in DeGraff.

Thank you to Elizabeth at Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists for sending me The Side-Yard Superhero.

2009 Reading Challenges

1st in a Series Challenge

Book Review: Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck

Title: Real Food for Mother and Baby
Author: Nina Planck
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: March 31, 2009
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
Age Group: Adult, non-fiction

Nina Planck is an advocate for what she calls 'real food.' These are the staples of our ancestors, prepared in traditional ways. Fruits, vegetables, eggs, meats, cheese, and milk minimally processed if processed at all. Planck provides compelling arguments for eating this way based on nutritional comparisons.

While some of the ideas she presents for general eating and eating during pregnancy fall quite far from mainstream thinking, she does provide science to back up her claims. The stories she shares of her own pregnancy and how it shaped her diet are interesting. Although there were some aspects of her experiences that I would not have shared during my own pregnancy (such as having glasses of wine), I was able to take away some good information from this section of the book.

Planck lost me, however, when it came to the section on baby's first foods. Essentially she fed her son chunks of various table foods almost from the beginning of his solid food experience. While I do not doubt the nutritional value of the foods she was feeding him, my concern is that some of the foods she mentioned would present a potential choking hazard. I simply cannot imagine letting my eight month old daughter chew on a pork chop! Planck also threw out all conventional wisdom regarding babies and allergies, giving her son many foods before his first birthday that most doctors do not recommend.

I enjoyed reading this book and I do feel that I learned something from it. I think each person reading this book will have to find their own comfort level with the information presented and take what they can use while leaving the rest behind.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for sending me an Advance Reading Copy of Real Food for Mother and Baby.

Book Review: Jesus Swept by James Alexander Protzman

Title: Jesus Swept
Author: James Alexander Protzman
Publisher: Kitsune Books
Publication Date: December 1, 2008
Format: Paperback, 276
Age Group: Adult

Description (from Amazon.com): Following in the tradition of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces and William Kotzwinkle's The Fan Man, James Protzman's Jesus Swept plays fast and loose with every known Southern archetype and stands magical realism on its head without missing a beat. Joining classic hippie-jester-heroes Ignatius C. Reilly and Horse Badorties is Gary Gray, part-time sidewalk sweeper and full-time savior. The unlikely story of hope lost, found, and lost again on the North Carolina coast, Jesus Swept celebrates a philosophy of life you can put on a bumper sticker: Do Good, Be Nice, Have Fun. Meet Hook, Sinker, Liz, Frank, Dog and Jesus himself, six souls twisted in a tangle of threads that will make you cry until you laugh - or until you try dying.

My Thoughts: I'm not sure what I was expecting when I received Jesus Swept but it certainly wasn't what I got. Perhaps I'm simply not meant to read literary fiction because I did not understand this book at all. I found it very difficult to follow, with incredibly short chapters and fast changes of scene and characters. The whole book felt disjointed to me. Because I was never able to spend a substantial amount of time in the story with any one of the characters, I never felt connected to any of them.

The description also fails to mention the heavy use of foul language and sexual references which really turned me off from the book as well.

With the hope that the characters' stories would eventually connect and begin to make sense to me and in the interest of writing a fair review, I did read the entire book. Unfortunately it never did get better for me and I was as confused when I finished reading as I was after the first few chapters.

Thank you to Amy at Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists for sending me a copy of Jesus Swept.

Blog Tour: Mating Rituals of the North American WASP by Lauren Lipton

Title: Mating Rituals of the North American WASP
Author: Lauren Lipton
Publisher: 5 Spot
Publication Date: May 29, 2009
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Age Group: Adult

Summary: After arguing with her live-in boyfriend about his inability to commit, Peggy Adams flies to a friend's bachelorette party in Las Vegas, and wakes up next to a man she can't remember. Hung-over and miserable, she sneaks out of the sleeping man's hotel room and returns home to New York, where her boyfriend apologizes for the fight and gives her a Tiffany box containing a pre-engagement ring. Not what she expected, but close enough! The next day she receives a phone call from the Las Vegas one-night stand, Luke, claiming she's already married to him¬-and he faxes her the license for proof! Both are ready for an annulment, until Peggy arrives in quaint New Nineveh, CT, where Luke cares for his Great Aunt, and the old woman makes Peggy an offer she can't refuse.

My Thoughts: Mating Rituals of the North American WASP is a comedy of errors. The two main characters, Peggy and Luke, are unable to communicate their true feelings for each other which leads to frustrating and confusing interactions. Hiding their true relationship from almost everyone else that they know adds an additional complication to their lives. Both Peggy and Luke are flawed characters which makes them easy to identify with. Neither has a true sense of direction or purpose. I loved the character of Miss Abigail, Luke's great aunt. She guides Luke and Peggy, often without them realizing it, and certainly seems to know more than she lets on.

Overall, Mating Rituals of the North American WASP was an entertaining, quick, and enjoyable book

Find a full list of the blog tour stops at Drey's Library. Thank you to Miriam at Hachette Book Group for sending me Mating Rituals of the North American Wasp.

Book Review: The GL Cookbook and Diet Plan by Nigel Denby

Title: The GL Cookbook and Diet Plan
Authors: Nigel Denby, Tina Michelucci, & Deborah Pyner
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Publication Date: June 4, 2007
Format: Paperback, 280 pages
Age Group: Adult, non-fiction

The GL Cookbook and Diet Plan offers practical advice for substituting foods with lower glycemic index scores for those with higher scores. Recipes were also created looking at the total glycemic load which differs based on food combinations and portion sizes.

The authors provide sample meal plans and easy to read charts with food substitutions and methods for reaching the daily recommended servings for food groups. They also add interesting facts about various foods to keep things interesting. While stressing good choices in eating, the authors also understand that a severely restricted diet will lead to failure and so provide a great deal of flexibility.

The recipes are nicely organized and labeled by how much time they take to prepare. Vegetarian recipes are also clearly labeled. Some of the recipes do use some less familiar ingredients but others are simply new combinations of familiar foods. The recipes in this book are a jumping off point for creating your own low GL recipes for your favorite dishes by using some simple substitutions.

I think it is important to note that this book was originally published in the UK and uses some terminology that may not resonate with a North American audience. Also the website mentioned frequently in the book (http://www.dietfreedom.co.uk/) as a resource for locating vendors is a UK based website with most information only available to paying members.

Thank you to Mini Book Expo for Bloggers for providing me a copy of The GL Cookbook and Diet Plan.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!

Today I want to wish all of the mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day. It is a very special Mother's Day for me as it is my very first one as a mother. My beautiful daughter will be seven months old on Friday and she is absolutely the light of my life. I am looking forward to the many Mother's Days that we will share together.

Book Review: Too Tall Alice by Barbara Worton

Title: Too Tall Alice
Author: Barbara Worton
Illustrator: Dom Rodi
Publisher: Great Little Books
Publication Date: March 15, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
Age Group: Children ages 7-11

Eight year old Alice is four inches taller than any of the other girls in her class at Cherry Tree School.

Barbara Worton writes with a keen understanding of how it feels to be different. Alice begins the story with self-doubt and an intense discomfort with her height. Through a dream, Alice learns to accept herself just as she is and decides that she can do and be anything she wants. Too Tall Alice offers children who are struggling with self image a wonderful lesson of acceptance without forcing it on them.

Dom Rodi enhances the story with a variety of illustrations, large and small. The page layouts are varied with the text interspersed with the illustrations in a fashion that keeps the eyes moving. The emotions described in the text play clearly across Alice's face. Even the text itself seems to offer a personality as the font mimics handwriting and some of the words vary in size.

Too Tall Alice is an engaging story with a great message.