Book Review - The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


(technically this is a re-read, though I wasn't active on the site when I read this in 2010)

After recently seeing the Hunger Games movie, I had a strong inclination to plow through the series again. They are fast reads, even for me, and I knew that even with other books bouncing around being read that I could polish these off.

And I wanted to see if the movie was really missing the important details I was remembering, or if I was filling things in that the later books in the series actually contained. Turned out I was right; if you haven't read this book, then much of the movie isn't going to be that compelling. The characters will likely seem shallow, and the action difficult to understand. The backstory that gives the world of the Hunger Games such a rich tapestry in the books is sadly lacking in the movie, and there are several details in the book that I think were significant enough to be introduced.

Tessarae: This is never explained in the movie at all, but is a major factor in the book. Tessarae is a small allowance of extra grain and oil rations that can be signed up for by entering a name more often in the Hunger Games drawing. It is discussed in at least a half dozen places in the book, and becomes an important element in understanding the characters of Gale, Katniss, Madge, Peeta and others.

Madge: This small character, the mayor's daughter, who gifts the mockingjay pin to Katniss is eliminated completely from the movie. The contrast between their lives growing up and the fact that they became somewhat friends despite their different statuses is an imporant part of understanding Katniss, and may be why some people who only saw the movie thought her character fell a bit flat.

The Capitol: I wasn't wrong; the books clearly make out the people in the Capitol to be a bunch of freaks. And I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. These people work hard to dehumanize themselves, partially in a well designed metaphor - to distinguish themselves from those in the districts and the games. In the movie, while there is some odd fashion and the strange hair color here and there, there is little sign of the surgical alteration in the books. This is even more profound when you consider that at the end of the games, Katniss is altered surgically to erase everything that was done to her in the arena, every scar buffed away, every sign of her delicate humanity and the precarious line she walked to survive erased, to hide from the viewing audiences the reality of what goes on.

Rue: I love Rue so much in the books, but the movie? While she is adorable and exactly as I pictured her, too much of the relationship between Katniss and Rue is eliminated or glossed over, as is all of the talk of District 11, how it works, and the history there.

Katniss' Father: Where are the tales of the Mockingjays? Where are the stories about his music, how his father almost wed Katniss' mother? This important part of Katniss' life and character development are again eliminated.

Mockingjay: Need I say more?

Overall, I was renewed in my memory that these are fantastic books, charming, well written, and excellent examples of YA literature that can appeal to all ages.



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Book Review - Parenting the Hurt Child

Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow by Gregory Keck

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


During our long training sessions in preparation to complete a special-needs adoption, social workers recommended this particular book over and over again. I started to wonder what all the fuss was about, so I did a quick search on the library website, and found there was only one copy floating around. Yikes! I requested it right away.

It wasn't far into the book before I understood what was going on. Ah, I see. Our course of learning how to parent special needs kids? Yeah, it almost felt lifted from this book :)

That's not a criticism of either the book or the class, it just notes that everything that the social workers thought we needed to learn about parenting kids with issues was covered in this book, only to a far more in-depth degree than could possibly be covered in a class full of people asking questions.

This book is written more for parents who are already parenting these children and facing issues from the abuse, neglect, and other circumstances the kids have endured in the past, and so is chock-full of helpful suggestions for activities and conversations, ways to work around traditional parenting advice that can be awful for these kids, and ways to wrap your head around techniques that may seem counterintuitive to even the most willing parent. There are pages and pages I needed to xerox so I could be sure to have them on hand in the future, and additional pages and pages in the back of further resources that I would have copied... but discovered they were already a part of our big parenting handbook from the province.

If you are dealing with common issues such as attachment problems, lying, or control issues which crop up in many adopted kids, there are lots of coping strategies and advice to keep you from pulling your hair out. The book also touches on some of the more extreme cases, and gives great, real-world accounts written by both parents and kids who have been there of the real life techniques they used to make it through the hard times.

If you are still preparing to bring your kids home, as we are, this book is a way to get a great leg-up on knowing more details of things you can expect, so that you are already prepared when the stormclouds blow in. Kind of like stocking up your storm shelter for tornado season, but putting those supplies in your emotional bank instead.

I recommend this book highly to adoptive and prospective adoptive parents. The writing is approachable and not as academic and offputting as many books on this subject matter can be. It's a great conversational read, and while it isn't a light book by any means, it also isn't one you'll struggle to find your way through.



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What's For Dinner? BBQ Chicken Pita Pizzas

Ommomnom... Who could say no to such yumminess?

Everyone ends up with leftover chicken. I don't care if your household has two people or a dozen, eventually you're going to end up with leftover chicken, whether it's from a formal Sunday dinner or from that rotisserie birdie you picked up at Costco because it smelled so good when you went by.

FYI? This is particularly excellent for that second scenario!

Leftovers can be boring, but this particular use for leftover chicken is never, ever boring. My husband loves it, and will request it even when there are no leftovers in the offing. (In that case, those frozen bags of grilled chicken breast strips can be a great substitute, or even the occasional can of cooked chicken!)  What's most important is to use a sauce that you really love, because it plays a big part in this dish.  I'd recommend more of a hickory type sauce rather than the sweeter barbecues, as it plays off of the pizza angle of the dish a bit better.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
Whole wheat pitas
Your favourite BBQ sauce
Shredded, cooked chicken
Red or purple onions
Zucchini
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Dried parsley
Dried chives
Salt and pepper


Preheat your oven to 425.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray.  Or just spray the cookie sheet, but be aware that non-stick spray can create a nasty residue on your cookware.  It's safer with foil.

Lay out your pitas and drizzle with BBQ sauce.  Use the back of a spoon to spread the sauce evenly across each pita.

Quarter and thinly slice the zucchini, and thinly slice the onion before separating into rings. These don't spend a long time in the oven, so very thin slicing is essential to create tender-crisp veggies in your pita pizzas.

Top your pitas with zucchini and onion.  Be generous.  Add other veggies if you like, but this is a perfect combination as far as I'm concerned.

 Follow up with chicken, and shredded cheese.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

 Sprinkle each pita with a teaspoon each of dried chives and dried parsley.  Use about twice the volume if you're using fresh herbs instead of dried.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  Depending on your BBQ sauce, you likely don't need very much!

 MMMMmmmmm.... ready for the oven.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.  The cheese will turn everything into a delicious, melty and creamy goodness and the pita will crisp nicely on the bottom.

The whole dish can be completed in under 30 minutes, which makes it excellent for weeknights or even lunchtime!

Book Review - Seriously, I'm Kidding

Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was disappointed in how short this book was, mainly because it was making me laugh. A lot. And so I felt a little cheated that there wasn't more of it.

Some of the humour in this book borders on the absurd, but I think those were the moments that tickled me the most. Beware of reading this in public; people look at you funny when you start randomly gigglesnorting in quiet waiting rooms. This book is like a little peek into the inside of Ellen's head. You get odd lists of things, random thoughts that seem disconnected from everything that came before, anecdotes from life as a talk show host and from her marriage, and snippets of dialouge from a very funny life.

There isn't a lot of substance here. If you're looking for a hearty memoir about how to break into show business or be a successful Hollywood lesbian or get paid to dance up and down aisles, this is not it. It isn't a biography, nor is it chock full of behind-the-scenes gossip. It's jsut funny. And that's enough.



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Book Review - Sandman Slim

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a strange little story about a guy who returns from hell to avenge his girlfriend's death. This would sound like a rewrite of "The Crow" if it weren't for the fact that the guy in hell was never dead, just a magician who got tricked into becoming some kind of Ultimate Fighter in hell. There are all kinds of odd creatures and a mix of fantasy and legend in this book, which is the start of a series where it sounds like Sandman Slim - the main charachter - is going to become some kind of freelance agent who works for both angels and Lucifer.

I'm not sure yet if I'll read the rest. This may be a little too "out there" even for me. The characters test the bounds of my ability to suspend disbelief, though the writing is good. I'm just not sure if I care whether he works for good or evil, and even though the main character reads as a typical D and D chaotic nuetral character, he just isn't that interesting to me. And I always think chaotic nuetral is at least interesting, even if I don't usually want to deal with them.

If you're not a geek, and are wondering what I'm talking about, I mean that I kind of like/admire characters who just go with their gut even if it makes them seem insane to everyone else in the world. But while I like that aspect of the character, I just don't care about him. Even if he claims to be spending all his energy searching out the killer of his girlfriend, he's also distracted by every pretty girl he sees, which makes me doubt his sincerity. He's a strange one, and I have to really like the main character(s) to get into serial fiction. I just don't get that connection here.



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Book Review - Married With Zombies

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Imagine Zombieland, but with a couple in a rocky marriage leading the way. I seriously laughed my way through this whole book. It is written with a terrific, sharp wit and dialouge that is almost disarmingly real.

Sarah and David arrive at the office of their marriage counselor one day, prepared to slog through another session to try to repair their falling-apart marriage. To their shock, they find their counselor happily munching away on her previous patients. Yowch.

After a narrow escape, Sarah and David are on their way through a series of mishaps, adventures, trials and triumphs as they meet characters ranging from a teenage ninja who lives above a Chinese restaurant to ne'er do well prosthetyzing Christians to the Jeff Foxworthy-esque hillbilly romancing David's sister.

Married With Zombies is the first in what is intended to be a post-apocolyptic series, and I thought it might fill in a gap in my reading list while I wait for the next Mira Grant novel to come out. It was a great pick. Completely different from the Feed series, this book is light and irreverent, but still skillfully written and an absolute delight to read.





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Book Review - Bossypants

Bossypants by Tina Fey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a funny, fast-to-read memoir of Tina Fey's life, from childhood through her current career. If you have enjoyed her work as a writer and actress on SNL and/or 30 Rock, you'll probably love this book. If you like smart, witty gen X women writers, you'll probably like this book. If you like memoirs of working class girls who grow up to be fabulous, influential career women, you'll probably like this book.

There aren't many people that I don't think would like this book. There were certainly several laugh-out-loud moments for me, mostly from Tina's asides and remarks rather than the main text. She is very honest in the re-telling of her life, even when she talks about what she's not going to talk about and why. She lays her life bare, in all it's sometimes neck-pimpled glory, to show us all that she's pretty much just like everyone else, whether it's because she's dealt with childhood trauma, or the trauma of overly self-important does-everything-right other mommies.

Definitely a good way to uplift a day or two.



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What's For Dinner? Lime Herb Shrimp

I love quick to make meals, especially if they're healthy.  Stir frys are great for that, and this is sort of along the lines of a stir fry.  After all, I do make it in a wok.  My Jamie Oliver wok, actually, which is non-stick and not particularly traditional, but I have great love for it nonetheless.

This dinner takes about ten minutes of prep time and ten minutes of cook time, except for the brown rice I serve with it.  That I have to start early.  But if you use the bring-to-a-boil-turn-it-off method, (wherein, you bring your rice, water and salt to a boil, stick a lid on it, and turn it off until it becomes magically done), you don't have to spend much time in the kitchen fussing over that part either.

All that goes on here, is that you thinly slice some onion and toss it in your wok with some olive oil (about a tablespoon).  Let it get slightly translucent, then toss in some frozen shrimp.  You don't even have to defrost them!  Then squeeze in a lime.  Right over the wok.  Add some salt and pepper and thinly sliced red and green pepper, along with 2 tbs each of dill weed, parsley, and chives, and a tiny pinch of splenda.

By the time your shrimp are warmed through, everything else is ready to be tossed on top of that rice you have sitting on the other burner.  Yum!  And totally man-approved, which is important in this house, let me tell you.  The lime and herbs are unexpected in a dish that looks like a stir-fry, and create a fresh, tangy dish that is fast to fix on any weeknight.

You can scale this easily for added people, as I've done many times.  I throw in a quarter onion, quarter green pepper, half a red pepper, a tbs of each herb, half a lime and half a cup or so of shrimp for each person sharing the meal.  If you have extra limes left over, slice them thinly and twist them in a half turn to create a pretty plate garnish for your guests.  If you want to get really frilly with it, twist them around a chive stem or two for added punch.

This also goes amazingly well with citrus poppy seed cheesecake for dessert!  If you sub splenda for the sugar, opt for low-fat cream cheese and trans-fat free margarine, it doesn't add much in the way of calories, but ups the protein intake. And poppy seeds are good for you!

You can find the cheesecake recipe here on the Kraft recipes site. Honestly, you really can't tell that it's sugar free and low fat, unless you're used to super-rich desserts all the time.  This one is light, fluffy, and delicious.  And thankfully, not as guilt-inducing.

Book Review - The End of Everything

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is another girl-gone-missing tale. It seems like there have been quite a few of those on the market in the last couple of years. The vulnerability of women never goes out of style I guess.

The End of Everything explores the situation from the point of view of the adolescent best friend of the missing girl, who revisits her memory of the last afternoon she'd seen her friend over and over in hopes of uncovering a clue. When she does - an important clue no less - she begins ravaging her memory of the last few months, turning events over and over in her mind, trying to make sense of everything that happened.

Much of this book takes place within the main character's head. For a stoyrline that includes such drama, there is very little in the way of actual action, and so I found myself bored with the story and skipping ahead a bit here and there. While the writing is quite good, and very realistic in the mindset of a young girl, the story suffers from being somewhat slow and repetitive at times.

It's not a bad read, by any means, but since I've read some really brilliant books on this theme in the last couple of years, it paled a bit in comparison.



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Book Review - Daughters of the North

Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This should really get a three and a half star rating, as it's not really bad enough to rate a three.

Daughters of the North is a post-apocolyptic, dystopian tale of a society past the point of peak oil and environmental disaster. It is reminscent, at least in the beginning, of A Handmaid's Tale, one of my all-time favourite books, and one of the books that I feel shaped me as a person. In fact, I had heard that comparison previously, which is what drew me towant to pick this one up.

The writing borders on academic, which is fine for this particular story, but might be off-putting to those more accustomed to casual styles of writing. The main character is easy to empathyze with; a woman who has grown up in a decaying society, who went with the status quo because it was the easy route, until she simply couldn't stand the daily degradations and humiliations any longer. Most of us have a breaking point, and I felt, reading this, that mine would be close to hers (as, I think, most would; having your boss casually inspect your contraceptive device is just a shade too far).

The story seemed to devolve at the very end, and the end of the book left me a little disappointed. It had begun to build toward an interesting crescendo, then after one particularly emotionally poignant moment, it felt like the author wasn't sure where to go next. Left with uncertainty, the reader has to decide how the story ends, which is okay, and is a plot device many authors use, but it just didn't seem right or well-done here.

The beginning is strong, and it's an interesting take on a possible future, but it's not a fun or particularly compelling read, and with the weak ending, it leaves some things to be desired.



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Book Review - Bitter is the New Black

Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office : A Memoir by Jen Lancaster

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In 2001, Jen Lancaster was an up and coming marketing executive with a huge salary, a handsome live-in boyfriend, a fabulous apartment in one of Chicago's trendiest neighborhoods, and a closet full of designer bags and shoes. She bought expensive perfume, took cabs everywhere, looked down on her less-classy neighbors, and had it all. Sort of.

Then her world exploded with the dot com bust. She lost her job. She lost her apartment. She lost some friends. She lost some stuff. She lost some dignity. But this book isn't about loss, it's about all the things she gained in those two years of unemployment, and how she became a different person with different priorities and a very different career path. I really, really like the "after" Jen better.

This book is bitingly funny, and the author is sarcastic almost to a fault. It would be too much if she didn't poke as much fun at herself as she does at everyone else. I'm all for equal opportunity humour. I kept bursting out laughing - often loudly - garnering odd looks from a very confused husband. I understand struggle, as most of us do, and had a lot of empathy for what Jen was going through, but it's impossible to feel too much sympathy when she's this funny.

And yes, I'll say it again. So. Freaking. Funny.

Despite the rather somber subject matter - dealing with unemployment and a bad economy - this book is a true pick-me-up and a great read.



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Book Review - The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It drew me in immediately, and I dropped everything else I was reading to concentrate soley on this book. What a fantastical, magical story.

The setting of the story - a circus in the late 1800s - early 1900s - was enough to capture my imagination. The idea that the circus was only open from nightfall to sunrise and was composed entirely of black and white with dashes of red? That set my brain spinning into all the possibilities. Toss in some old-school, kind of scary, ancient magicians having a contest of true illusions - not slight-of-hand - being performed by their proteges, a touch of a love story, a mysterious clockmaker, identical twin children who train kittens to perform acrobatic feats and attractions that include a laybrinth of clouds and a tent filled with scent-experience bottles and jars and I was done in.

I want to live inside the world of The Night Circus.

I loved this book. And you should, too. It has something for everyone, whether you're looking for history, drama, suspense, romance, or action. It's beautifully written with tight dialogue and sweeping, lyrical settings. It's a very good book, and I think I'll be reading it again.

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Paper Pregnant

I'm coming out of the closet: I'm paper pregnant.

Now, some of you either already know about this or suspected, based on things I've said or hinted at over the last couple of months. And others of you may find this term offensive, as I've seen hinted at on the adoption boards I frequent, but I don't care.

When, on the last day of our training, the social worker announced that we were now "paper pregnant", the term resonated with me, and I fell in love with the idea. We still have cross-cultural training to do (this Saturday!) and a half day left of FASD training since one of the social workers was sick on the day we were scheduled, but we're moving into the waiting process.

It's funny, the first time I was pregnant, I read tons and tons of pregnancy, birth, and baby books. Now it's adoption, child-raising, and special needs oriented books. Before we planned a nursery, and now we're planning bedrooms. Before, and now... it's better now because I'm not sick, but it's scarier now because there isn't a set "due date".

I haven't wanted to talk about it much because it's such a long process with so little news here and there, and so fielding a lot of questions about where we were is sad and difficult sometimes.  The waiting is so hard on us, especially when we want to have our family home with us so badly.  So instead of having lots of conversations, how about I update you all here?  Sound good?

Richard and I are adopting.  Yay!  We've done a lot of researching and investigating and considering where and how.  We stopped and started and stopped again.  We decided against international and private domestic in general (though we are open to private domestic if it drops in our laps somehow, which is possible - part of why I'm "coming out") and began in-depth pursuit of public domestic adoption.

Last night we were out with a large group of friends, and we mentioned something about adoption.  A friend across the table looked up and said, "I wish I'd known, as I have a friend who was looking for a family for her 2-week-old, but I think she found someone now."  Oh, did my heart ache in that moment.  By keeping our journey private, were we cutting off the universe from possibly sending beautiful possibilities our way?  Maybe.  Or maybe it was just a wake-up call for me to be open about this, because what is meant to be is going to be, and if that baby was meant to be ours, they would be ours.  But by being open about this, we are at least not closing off that avenue.

Lastly, for my local friends, if a match comes unexpectedly quickly (which can happen, in some circumstances) I would love to hear from you if you are willing to loan us a car seat, booster seat, and/or travel crib/cradle/toddler bed short term if we're matched suddenly and need a little time to shop!  It would be helpful for me to have a list of people I could call in case of emergency. We were told a story of one of our social workers calling a couple and saying, "Sooo, I have a baby for you at the hospital that needs to be picked up!"  That's rare of course, and we're expecting a toddler and up age-range wise but it could still happen. And better to be prepared just in case than to be tearing my hair out at the last minute.

We're scared.  We're excited.  We're happy.  We're on an emotional roller-coaster just like any pregnant couple, even if our added weight is a giant binder of paperwork and our doctor's visits are actually visits with social workers. We miss the family we want to bring home, and can't wait for them to arrive.  I hope you can share in our excitement on this amazing journey.