"Seven for a secret never to be told"

Geez. Quit picking tear jerkers, will yah? I guess we're both expanding each other's boundaries. I make you read light hearted books you'd never touch otherwise, and you make me read sob stories I wouldn't normally touch with a ten foot pole. Well played, Megan, well played. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you If I Lie, by Corrine Jackson.

Taken from Corrine's Blog

Before I get to the emotional bit, I just want to point out that I, too, did not sympathize with Casey. Yes, I get that coming out in the military is a hard, dangerous prospect. But that is no excuse for his behavior.  Asking his best friend to put her life on hold so that he may continue to lie to his friends and family? Shameful.  Selfish.  There's no reason why they could not just 'break up' and move on.  Normal, heterosexual couples do that all the time, especially given the strain the military puts on a relationship.  She could have kept his secret while being openly single. His way of 'dealing' with the issue at hand just shows that he is still an adolescent who over-analyzes immediate consequences without looking at the overall gist of the situation, as the adult brain does (my YA library services class makes my brain hurt...but here's an article on that last tidbit. And another). 

I also really love the role that photography played in Q's life.  I'm friends with quite a few artsy types, from artists to musicians to theatre geeks.  For them, their art is their passion, and provides both an escape from reality, as well as the means to process reality.  Giving Q that intimate connection with her photography, then, humanized her and enabled me to connect with her.  

Now, the teary part. It wasn't over Casey, nor was it for Q and Blake. I got all choked up over George, her aged Vietnam Vet mentor.  Once again, the death of a character in a novel made me think about my own loss.  Just like George taught Q photography, my grandma taught me sewing. And I know she would have been there for me when I struggled with relationships during college. So I was able to connect with Q when she lost a pivotal figure in her life. 

That's all on If I Lie.  I can't wait until it's my turn to pick adult fiction. We're gonna read about love struck zombies! In the meantime, I think it's high time we read some YA dystopian fiction for the blog, since that's the genre that first brought us together!

“It’s not what you call yourself, Doctor Laverty; it’s what you do that counts here.”

Dear Becca, 

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that AN IRISH COUNTRY DOCTOR by Patrick Taylor wasn’t my favorite book. However, it was a different read for me (in a good way, I think) and I’m thankful for the variety that you’re adding to my reading repertoire. 

"Inside the Dirty Duck" by Taylor's partner Dorothy Tinman

In general, AN IRISH COUNTRY DOCTOR was too slow for my taste. It was easy to pick up the story, but also much too easy to set it down. I wasn’t particularly invested in what was going on because I didn’t feel like there was a real engaging plot here. The reading moved quickly but I should have finished this book in much less than the week/week and a half that it actually took me.  Unfortunately, I usually didn’t feel that urge to keep going and find out what happens next. 

That said… Taylor first wrote about the citizens of Ballybucklebo in his monthly column in Stitches: The Journal of Medical Humour. When someone suggested that the characters would make a good novel, he took all his material and pieced together a novel with everyone’s favorite characters. Thus, I don’t think the point of this novel is really the storyline, but rather to focus on the characters and the community. And Taylor does exceedingly well at that. Actually, I think I would have enjoyed this novel more if I had read it in its original form as a column each month. It would be so fun to sit down and read about these characters once a month for fifteen minutes. 

I’m not surprised that this made you think of Professor Dobbins. However, neither Dr. Laverty nor Dr. O’Reilly struck me as lazy characters. Dr. O’Reilly goes out of his way to check up on his patients whereas a lazier character would have just stayed home. Even Dr. Laverty sometimes wonders why Dr. O’Reilly goes to so much trouble. If anything, I thought Dr. O’Reilly was somewhat of a workaholic. He reminded me a little bit of my dad, who’s also a doctor, and goes far and beyond the call of a typical doctor when it comes to his patients. He has been known to make house calls and attend patients’ birthday parties or other social functions simply because he cares about them on a deeper, human level. I think that’s really special. So I didn’t find Dr. O’Reilly to be lazy at all. When I think lazy, I think of Seamus Galvin, one of Dr. O’Reilly’s patients. He squanders the money that his wife saved up for their move to California and had me wanting to pull my hair out with frustration. 

It must be a lot of fun for Taylor to return to these characters time and time again. I would love to have a set of characters that readers are so attached to and that you know so intimately and can keep re-visiting. I think Taylor has done a wonderful job; it’s simply not my preferred genre. 

Til we read again!

Megan

If I Lie

Dear Becca,

First of all, I am extremely proud/excited to share that I recommended THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS to my mom over the holidays and she absolutely loved it. I think she read it in two days tops. Generally, my mom and I don’t read a lot of the same material, so it was extremely satisfying to share this book with her!

This time around, I chose IF I LIE, a YA novel that is a bit of a stretch for me. Let’s just say, it’s not my typical summer romance story. I first read about IF I LIE on Veronica Roth’s blog, where she shared how absorbing and wonderful this book is. As you know, I’m in awe of Miss Roth and all that she has accomplished at 24 so I was immediately intrigued to find out what she thought was so amazing.

Absorbing is right. This is another book that alternates a bit between present and past but not so much as other books we’ve read. One thing I love about it is the fact that Jackson doesn’t keep you waiting to find out what Quinn’s big secret is. You find out right away that her boyfriend, Carey, is gay. He breaks up with Quinn right before he leaves for Afghanistan but then he gets beaten up and asks her to keep his secret and continue acting like his girlfriend. She does so, but when a photo leaks of her kissing another guy, the whole town turns against her. Everyone labels her a slut/whore for cheating on Carey (even her closest friends and family). She can’t tell the truth because that would be betraying her promise to Carey.

What a dark plot line. I didn’t have nightmares while I was reading this book, but I would read it right before bed and then wake up angry. A part of me really wanted Quinn to tell her close friends/family what was going on. Carey didn’t seem worth it to me. Not to mention, Quinn’s one shot at a new relationship is seriously messed up because she can’t tell the truth about Carey. The whole thing just had me pulling my hair out with frustration.

It makes me so sad that there are men in the military fighting for us who can’t be themselves, who have to hide their true feelings like Carey does. Although I was very angry with him for putting Quinn in such a terrible situation, I do understand where he’s coming from. I just think he asked too much. Couldn’t they have broken up without revealing that Carey was gay? I feel like there are other options they should have explored.

Author Corinne Jackson did a lovely job with this novel and I’m glad that I picked it up. I was also excited to learn that she lives in San Francisco. I’ve enjoyed reading bits of her blog – particularly this entry about how she got her agent.

Til we read again,

Megan

An Irish Country Doctor

Happy New Year Megan!

So when it came to choose the next grown-up book, I was torn between two finds at Barnes and Nobles.  First was the book A Beautiful Disaster, a book I found in the ADULT fiction section which promised to have a heavy romantic plot.  A few hours later, having finished the book in a shameful frenzy, I dubbed it "College Lit, " for it had the angst of YA lit with sensual details inappropriate for tender young ears.  Upon coming to this evaluation, I concluded that there's no way it qualifies as my adult pick.  So instead, I give you Patrick Taylor's An Irish Country Doctor, which is about as far from my other option as you can get (so you may hate me, hah).

It's a simple enough tale.  A young doctor, Barry Laverty, fresh out of medical school, heads out to the Irish countryside to apply for a job as the assistant to the physician who serves the humble people of Ballybucklebo: Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly.  Reality is far from the sterile proficiency he learned at school, as, aghast  he watches the older doctor not only practice unorthodox medicine, but go so far as to manhandle his patients and throw them out the door. Ah, and there is a wee bit of romance thrown in, but really this is about the humorous situations he finds himself in as this city boy attempts to learn the ins and outs of country life. 

Now, whenever I see Irish literature, I am immediately prone to think of Professor Dobbins, our good old thesis advisor.  This novel, however, does not feature a lazy idle schemer as the main character. Rather, it's a minor character who most obviously inhabits this role in the literal reading of the phrase.  In truth, I think it would be argued that O’Reilly is the lazy idle schemer as Dobbins envisions it--a man who tries his best to get through the day as quickly (and efficiently) as possible so he may go back to his liquor and literature.  This is not to say he is incompetent, quite the opposite really as he proves time and time again that his methods tend to be more effective than the textbook procedures Dr. Laverty is acquainted with.  

Another interesting note is that the author, Patrick Taylor, IS a doctor, which lends a bit of authenticity to the narrative. Most of the time, authors are just, well, authors, and any factual data in a text was presumably the product of research rather than professional knowledge.  Knowing this, it made reading the book all the more interesting, since it has more than a few hours at the library backing its claims. 

This book is just fun. It's a lighthearted romp, with a bit of romance (and amorous fumbles) thrown in.  I'm certainly interested on reading the subsequent books, to see what sort of troubles come to Ballybucklebo next. I promise, PINKY  promise, that my next pick will have romance! But, I hope you enjoy this one nonetheless :)

Keep Calm and Read On,
Becca

"Either you're his true love...or you killed him"

Dear Becca,

I was actually really surprised by your review of The Raven Boys. This time around, I feel like our overall consensus on the book was the same (not our favorite book by Miss Maggie Stiefvater) and yet our feelings while reading the book seem to have differed entirely.

 Not to be outdone, here is a photo of me with Maggie!

To begin with, I was not surprised by the incorporation of the occult world but that’s because you gave me fair warning before reading. That said, the magical elements didn’t bother me like they did you. As you probably know by now, I'm extremely influenced by whatever I read (or even talk about) before bed. As I get older, I’m starting to see more of a connection – it’s the real-life tragedies and struggles that affect me more. I can only gather that it’s because they hit on some of my deepest fears. I guess I’m not very scared of the type of magic that exists in this world because the book’s dark themes had no memorable affect on my dreams or how I felt while reading. I was not uncomfortable in the least.

Actually, The Raven Boys reminded me of the Indiana Jones movies – one of my all-time favorite trilogies. (I choose not to acknowledge the fourth or impending fifth as part of the series.) Gansey and Indiana Jones share the same excitement about history and quests. The book also reminded me of one of my all-time favorite TV Shows, Charmed. The psychics were funny and added levity to the magical subject matter for me. (Despite the dark magic that one of them is up to.) They reminded me of the Halliwell sisters. All in all, the magic wasn’t too dark for my taste. Maybe this is the kind of magic I like… The kind that exists as a sort of parallel world to ours. Where you have to really seek it out to find it and everyone else remains oblivious. (If that’s true, I don’t know what that says about me...)

Love me some Indiana Jones!

What I had the most trouble with in this story was the characters and their relationships in this first book. Mainly – the romance. Surprise, surprise, right? I think it’s fairly obvious by this point that I am obsessed with romance. This, above anything else, keeps my attention in a book. Not sex scenes or anything like that, but the blossoming relationship between two people and that first stage of love where everything is all butterflies and tingly feelings. One thing that drove me crazy about this book was the love triangle. Blue is supposedly with Adam, but I never really felt like there was a connection between them and meanwhile you know she’s somehow going to wind up with Gansey. The relationship with Adam was tiresome for me and I just wanted to see what would happen with Gansey. I know that we’ll get more in the next two books and you’re supposed to be kept waiting and wanting more, but I was just plain dissatisfied.

I’m running out of room now, but I was also upset with the ending. The last line just didn’t feel right to me. That said, I did enjoy the book so I will definitely be reading the rest of the series!

Til we read again!
Megan