Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

When Abe Portman dies a mysterious and violent death, most people assume it was a vicious dog attack, but his grandson Jacob knows otherwise. His grandfather's final words to him were, "Go to the island, Yakob. Here it's not safe."

When Abe was a young man, his parents sent him to an island during the war to protect him from the invading Nazis. As a child Jacob always heard stories from his grandfather about the home where he stayed but always assumed they were just fantastical stories made up by a man who was trying to cope with the abandonment of his parents and the loss of his true home.

Given that he saw the terrifying creature that killed his grandfather, Jacob knows his death was no dog attack. But terrorized by nightmares and a family that thinks he's gone crazy, Jacob is sent to a psychiatrist to deal with the trauma of his grandfather's death, all the while knowing there is something much more sinister afoot.

On his birthday, Jacob's aunt gives him a book that was inscribed to him by his grandfather. Inside this book is a letter written by one Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine to Abe Portman. This letter is the impetus Jacob needed to go to the island his grandfather spoke of and find the house where he once lived with these peculiar children that Jacob always assumed were just bizarre stories he made up as a way of coping with the terror of war.

Now he knows otherwise and he somehow manages to convince his father to take him to the very island where his grandfather once lived. Will he find the answers he is looking for? Or just discover that his grandfather, and now he, are the crazy ones?

Peppered with a collection of unusual old photographs, Ransom Riggs weaves a story unlike any other I've ever read. It is the very definition of the publishing house that printed it: Quirk. It's not scary enough to be a horror story, but it's definitely frightening enough to be creepy, and will prevent you from reading it alone in bed at night if you're a chicken like me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book up until about two-thirds of the way through when the world of the Peculiars started to reveal itself. As someone who is not normally a fan of fantasy and/or scary stories, I found it difficult to lose myself in the world that Riggs created. Still, I can see why this book is a bestseller. The draw of the strange photographs along with the mystery of what really happened to Abe Portman allows this book to appeal to many different types of readers.Whether I read the sequel remains to be seen. I want to see what it's about before I commit to adding it to my TBR pile.


Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Published: June 7, 2011 by Quirk Books
Pages: 352
Genre: Mystery/Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult? (Lots of people seem to be confused about the age group of this book)
Disclosure: Book received from publisher

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read Outside My Comfort Zone

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's topic is:


Top Ten Books I Read Outside My Comfort Zone

Before I give my list, I should probably tell you what my comfort zone is. My preference is realistic and historical fiction as well as food and travel memoirs. I generally don't read fantasy or science fiction and I really despise romance novels.


1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

Yup. I didn't want to read Harry Potter. I was dead-set against it. I had no desire to read about witches and wizards, no matter how popular it was. Then my friend and Super-Librarian Allison over at Reading Everywhere strongly encouraged me to try listening to the audiobooks and after the first CD I was hooked. For someone who doesn't like fantasy, the major redeeming quality of these books is that, despite the fact that JK Rowling created a whole new world in these novels, the characters feel so real that they could be actual people. For someone who is huge into character-driven novels, that's what made me love and appreciate them despite my general penchant to stay away from the fantasy genre.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Once again, reading this book was all Allison's fault. When I first read what the story was about I was appalled. I had absolutely zero desire to read about a group of kids fighting each other to the death. But Allison recommended it based on the lyrical writing, and, once again, I was not disappointed. Who knew that the writing in a book about fighting to the death could be so beautiful?


3. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

If I dislike romance novels, I dislike books with vampires equally as much. Romance and vampires? No thank you. But I had to read this series to see what all the hoopla was about. It was definitely page-turning, I'll give Stephenie Meyer that much. But the literary merit of these books is nonexistent.

4. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

 At first glance, this book appeared to be a rip-off of Twilight but with just werewolves and not vampires. But Maggie Stiefvater gets by on the merit of her beautiful writing, something the Twilight books could never do.

5. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

The words paranormal and romance usually cause me to scrunch up my nose and say, "No thanks," but the fact that this book takes place in Prague gave me pause and made me want to read it. Despite the fantastical characters and storyline of this novel, I was intrigued by the real-life setting because even though Prague is a real city, I couldn't think of a better place to set this creepy, mysterious novel.

6. Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

I hate zombies. I don't watch zombie movies and I don't read zombie books. But Carrie Harris is from Michigan and when I had the opportunity to attend her book launch party, I couldn't resist lifting my zombie moratorium, especially for a zombie book as funny and campy as this one. And after meeting Carrie at her book launch, was I ever glad I did!

7. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

I am not a fan of time-travel stories in the slightest, and after reading this book, I'm still not. Believe it or not, the shiny red cover is what drew me to read this book. A great example of when judging a book by its cover doesn't pay off.

8. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Even though I generally like historical fiction, this book sounded way too complicated for me to enjoy. But the buzz around the blogosphere was that this book was an amazing read, so I gave it a try. Oh my am I ever glad I did. It was by far my favorite read of the year to-date. It was absolutely spellbinding.

9. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

As I already mentioned, I'm not a fan of science fiction, but this book was so riveting that I couldn't put it down. Plus I loved the mystery aspect of it. I'm definitely chomping at the bit to read A Million Suns.

10. Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

A fantasy book about bats? That sounds like a recipe for a book Beth will not like. But strangely enough, it was a surprisingly endearing story about the power of friendship. Now Kenneth Oppel is one of my favorite authors.

November Giveaway Hop

This November Giveaway Hop is hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Tristi Pinkston

For this stop I am offering the audiobook of:

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Published: September 2011
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Book Length: 9 hours, 59 minutes
Narrators: Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

I'm trying Rafflecopter for the first time so we'll see how well this goes:

Thanks for entering my giveaway! And don't forget to check out the other books in the hop by following this link.

In My Mailbox (52)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, inspired by Pop Culture Junkie. The books you share do not have to be ones you actually received in the mail. They can be ones you bought at the book store, checked out at the library, or downloaded to your e-reader. The idea is just to share what's on your TBR pile for the upcoming week.

Bought at my library's used book store:

The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville
Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Lawrence
Ashes by Kathryn Lasky
No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman
The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan

Library loot:

Picture books:
 
Prudence Wants a Pet by Cathleen Daly, illustrated by Stephen Michael King
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
I had awesome class discussions with my 6th graders about these two books this week. Proof, once again, that just because kids grow up, doesn't mean you should stop reading to them!

America Is... by Louise Borden, illustrated by Stacey Schuett
The Wall by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ronald Himler

Cookbook:

French Classics Made Easy by Richard Grausman

Travel guides for my upcoming trip to Chicago for the NCTE conference:

Fodor's: Chicago's 25 Best
Forbes Travel Guide: 2010 City Guide Chicago

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Food other than turkey that will make you feel thankful: MANI Osteria & Bar in Ann Arbor

Nowhere in southeastern Michigan is there a better place to try new restaurants than Ann Arbor. For those of you  reading my blog who aren't from the Midwest, you might not already know that Ann Arbor is a college town - The University of Michigan proudly resides here - and its penchant for variety and sophistication is fairly well known in food circles. Since my husband and I live only about ten miles from A2, we frequently find ourselves wandering downtown Ann Arbor, looking for a new restaurant to try.

Last night, we found ourselves wandering into MANI Osteria & Bar. It was one of those moments where you have to be grateful that there is such a thing as serendipity. I had read some things about MANI on UrbanSpoon, but we did not seek it out last night. It just kind of fell in our lap.

When we walked in the door and arrived at the hostess station, we were offered a seat at the chef's bar where we could watch the food being prepared as we ate. For a foodie such as myself, this was like watching dinner theater - but WAY more entertaining. I was so impressed with the ballet of food preparation and organization going on the kitchen that I daydreamed of one day being able to cook without making my kitchen a disaster area as these professionals so beautifully displayed.

Look at all the beautifully organized mise en place

My husband enjoying the show

The pizza dough was being stretched out and put in the wood-burning oven right in front of me.

After perusing the petite menu, we ordered two antipasti: aranchini (risotto croquettes) and crispy pork belly smothered in apricot marmelata. To tell you the crispy pork belly was a religious experience would only be a slightly a hyperbolic statement. It was like eating superbacon. (If you read my blog regularly, you already know my close relationship with bacon.) It took the very best part of bacon: the salty, crispy goodness, and elevated it to a new level with the meaty chew of a steak. I wish I had taken a picture of this dish before I gobbled it down. But I ate it too fast before I even thought that I should've had my iPhone handy.

For dinner I ordered arugula and prosciutto pizza with scamorza, olive oil, and sea salt. While the pizza was not nearly as luscious as the crispy pork belly, I was especially smitten with how they served it. Instead of buying fancy, elevated pizza plates like most red-checkered table pizzerias, MANI decided to take reduce, REUSE, recycle to a whole new level and serve their pizzas atop giant empty cans of tomatoes.

 Not only does this show patrons their commitment to reducing wastefulness, but it also gives customers yet another glimpse into the ingredients they use in their dishes. With more people these days demanding to know where their food comes from, this is really a simple, yet ingenious move on their part.

As I sat there savoring every bite of my meal and sipping on a glass of perfectly spiced sangria, I  couldn't help but stop and think how I really want for nothing in my life. I have a wonderful husband, a job I love, and a roof over my head. What more could anyone ask for? And the fact that a meal at a trendy downtown Ann Arbor restaurant could make me contemplate all the things I'm thankful for, just shows you how darn good their food really is.

It's not Thanksgiving dinner, but I sure feel thankful right now.

Sophistication just oozes out of the walls of this restaurant, and yet there is still a casualness about it that prevents it from being pretentious. The simple, sleek decor, along with the giant windows that display the bustling downtown Ann Arbor scene make the space feel urban and trendy.

Urban and trendy, however, can be two words that spell disaster for a restaurant if the food is not up to snuff. Since MANI only recently opened in May of 2011, it remains to be seen whether this restaurant will be a long-standing Ann Arbor institution, but given their manageable and delectable menu along with chefs and an owner who show a commitment to simple Italian food with quality ingredients, it is my hope that this place stays around for a very long time.

I don't often fill out comment cards at restaurants, but this meal compelled me to do so. While the food at MANI is on the pricey side so it's not a restaurant we would visit regularly, I can assure you that we will be returning - hopefully for years to come.

It was so good I had to excessively use exclamation points!

If you ever find yourself wandering downtown Ann Arbor, you can take the serendipity route like we did, or you can seek out this eatery with attentive service and gratitude-inducing food.

MANI Osteria & Bar
341 E. Liberty St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 769-6700

Audiobook review: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Jack and Hazel are best friends, but one day Jack gets beamed in the eye with a snowball and suddenly his heart turns cold and icy. To the outside observer, one might think that they just grew apart when Jack decided he preferred to hang out with his guy friends at school. But Hazel knows in her heart something is not right.

When one of Jack's buddies who has, for lack of a better term, been a bully to Hazel, suspects that someone has stolen Jack, Hazel realizes he has followed the Snow Queen into the forest.

Clearly unprepared and lacking proper footwear, Hazel decides to go find Jack and bring him back. There's just one problem: everyone she encounters in the forest tells her that he followed her of his own free will and would not have gone if he didn't want to.

What's Hazel to do when her best friend clearly doesn't want to be saved? Does she risk her own life and try to bring Jack back, or does she accept that his heart's gone cold and that she's lost him forever?

In this modern-day retelling of The Snow Queen, Anne Ursu manages to leave her readers completely captivated and spellbound. As someone who continues to remain dubious over the trend of retellings and remakes these days, I was not disappointed by this lovely read. Ursu's prose is lush and vivid, while at the same time not being overindulgent. It is also a book-lover's dream with references to many loved children's books like Harry Potter, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time and many more.

Kirby Heyborne is the narrator of the audiobook and his voice neither adds nor detracts from the story. His narration is on the emotionally neutral end, but not so unemotional that it's not expressive.


Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Audiobook Narrator: Kirby Heyborne
Publish Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Walden Pond Press and Harper Audio
Pages: 313
Audiobook Length: 7 hours, 51 minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Middle Grade
Disclosure: Audiobook received for review from publisher

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Had Strong Emotions About

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's topic is:

Top Ten Books I Had Strong Emotions About


OK, so the problem with this Top Ten Tuesday is that there are SO MANY books I've had strong reactions to that it was hard to pick only ten, and I was taking way too much time trying to whittle it down. So believe it or not, I'm going to participate in this Top Ten Tuesday by NOT participating in this Top Ten Tuesday. I know, I'm being a punk, right? But I don't want to leave anyone out and I don't want to spend the whole day listing all the books I DID feel strong emotions over. I'm afraid it will make me riled up, aggravated, and/or sad for the rest of the day.

On any given day, you will find me laughing, crying, yelling, or scratching my head over a book. I'm enjoying reading everyone else's responses on today's topic, but as for me, I'm pleading the fifth on this one.