The Week in Review: 01.24.2020

Between the Covers

Finished last week:

I’ve had LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green on my shelves for a long time and finally decided to give it a listen and I’m so glad I did!  It’s the story of Miles (Pudge) and his time at Culver Creek, a boarding school where he’s gone to seek “the Great Perhaps.”  Immediately befriended by his roommate Chip (The Colonel), Alaska, Lara, and Takumi, Pudge settles into life there.  Life goes on as they tend to do in boarding schools – with a series of pranks and students working hard – until one evening, after quite a bit of drinking, Alaska gets an upsetting phone call.  She leaves the school grounds and ends up dying.  Her friends try to reconstruct what happened after she left the school to try relieve their guilt and grief.

I’m a sucker for a boarding school setting so this book hooked me from the start.  That’s not enough to make me love a book, though, but the fabulous characters in this coming of age tale sure did.  I thought Green nailed the longings, emotions, and insecurities of teens and he helped me remember what it felt like to be one.  After I read this book, I discovered this was Green’s first book and is loosely based on his time in boarding school.   I thought this book was great and now understand why he’s so popular with the YA crowd.  The audio production is narrated by Wil Wheaton and he does a fantastic job – I’m now a fan of his as well.  (Review copy provided by Penguin Random House.)

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Pastry chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz dreamed of living in Paris ever since he visited the city upon graduating from college.  After working in great restaurants and writing some successful cookbooks he decided it was time.  He shares his adventures in his memoir THE SWEET LIFE IN PARIS.  With a keen sense of humor, Lebovitz shares what it’s like to live in The City of Lights including cooking in a tiny kitchen, dealing with manifestations, and figuring out how to navigate the French version of standing in line.  He shares the moment he truly became a Parisian and explains how he used food to warm the hearts of some of the grumpiest shopkeepers and tradesmen.  Luckily for readers, he includes quite a few recipes in the book!

I’ve never lived in Paris but I have lived in France and could relate to so much of this book!  Lebovitz writes of Paris and its citizens with humor and love while he tells of the ups and downs of living in the splendid city.   I loved his voice and flew through this terrific book!  I thought he captured the French perfectly and hope to read the rest of the books about his life in Paris soon.  (I won this book on Twitter from Fodor’s Travel.)

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When Lucas gets a drone, it’s love at first sight.  He names his drone T-Bone and wants to spend every waking moment with it.  When he takes T-Bone out to learn to fly it, he ignores his friends who want to play wiffle ball.  They get tired of waiting for him and start a game without him.  Lucas gets mad and uses T-Bone to hit the ball . . . over the fence.  Lucas’s friends are upset so he has to figure out a way to get the ball back.

T-BONE THE DRONE by Shanda McCloskey is a modern day picture book about friendship and cooperation.  I liked the way Lucas and his friends worked to find a solution to their problem and thought the illustrations were terrific but did have a few issues with the book.  I wondered how many members of the picture book set know about drones and found the kids solution a little implausible. The story is not without merit, though and will probably appeal to youngsters who are into drones and other mechanical things.  (Review copy provided by Little, Brown Young Readers.)

Currently reading:

• I REALLY NEEDED THIS TODAY by Hoda Kotb
• THE QUEENS OF ANIMATION by Nathalia Holt

On the Screen

Not much of anything.

Off the blog

• I finished my puzzle.  It was a fun one.
• Our winter’s been pretty mild, until this week.  Thankfully, it’s already starting to warm back up.
• We walked at least three miles every morning and I averaged just over 17,200 Fitbit steps a day.

What’s going on in your corner of the world?