A Word for Wednesday

 "We have tears in our eyes

As we wave our goodbyes,

We so loved being with you, we three.

So do please now and then

Come and see us again,

The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

All you do is to look

At a page in this book

Because that's where we always will be.

No book ever ends

When it's full of your friends

The Giraffe and the Pelly and me."

~from The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl~

Illustration by Quentin Blake

Let's Bust a Recap : Roald Dahl

Well, I've decided to post my Roald Dahl recaps in twos, and on today's docket we have Matilda and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me. 

After diving into the weird and wonderful world of Dahl last year with The Twits and The Witches, Matilda was the logical next choice for me having grown up watching the 1996 film adaptation starring Mara Wilson as the brilliant Matilda Wormwood. My best friend Amanda and I used to go around chanting Danny DeVito's condescending little monologue thinking we were hilarious.

Listen, you little wiseacre: I'm smart, you're dumb; I'm big, you're little; I'm right, you're wrong. And there's nothing you can do about it.

One of Roald Dahl's most beloved books, Matilda was published in 1988 and people have been voting it one of the best children's books of all time ever since. Opening his novel by explaining how mothers and fathers always think their own children are wonderful little geniuses despite any evidence to the contrary, Dahl then goes on to tell the story of Matilda Wormwood, a bonafide genius whose awful parents' can't be bothered with her at all. When Matilda starts to school under the atrocious headmistress Miss Trunchbull, she befriends her teacher Miss Honey who is amazed at Matilda's intellectual abilities, and after an extraordinary onset of powers, Matilda uses them to oust Miss Trunchbull.

Dahl had me laughing out loud straight out of the gate with his treatise on ridiculous parents and his thoughts on how he might behave if he were a teacher having to deal with such parents. I was enchanted with Matilda and her love for books, and I found myself cheering on the compassionate librarian Mrs. Phelps. Matilda's tricks on her neglectful and abusive parents were hilarious, and the retribution she finally doles out on Miss Trunchbull is altogether satisfying.  But by the very end of the book, even though Matilda and Miss Honey end up in a happily ever after together, I couldn't help feeling just a little sad for how awful Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood are and how they missed out on such a sweet daughter. Personally, I think the humor plays out a bit better on-screen where they're portrayed by the hilarious Danny DeVito and and Rhea Perlman. 

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is a mere 73 pages long and tells the sweet story of Billy, who befriends the Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company (which is made up of the Giraffe, the Pelican, and the Monkey) after they buy the queer old wooden house not far from where Billy lives. Billy has always dreamed of one day owning the old house and restoring it to its former glory as a sweet-stop, and after an adventure with the Giraffe and Pelly and Monkey, the Duke of Hampshire, and a jewel thief, he eventually does get to fulfill his secret wish of running the sweet-shop. 

Published in 1985, this one kept me smiling at the antics of the Giraffe and Pelly and Monkey—especially all their clever little sing-songy rhymes. It was worth reading the whole book just for the Monkey's final farewell song to Billy (which I will feature on the blog on Wednesday). And the charming illustrations by Quentin Blake were a delight as usual. 

While The Witches is still holding as my favorite so far, both these books get my stamp of approval, and I'm looking forward to my next visit with Dahl. I think the two books featuring Charlie Bucket will be the next stop on my journey. 

What's your favorite Roald Dahl book?

A Word for Wednesday

 "Tabby is my third miracle."

"Really? Tabby ranks up there with baby birds and kittens?"

"She's kind of like a baby. She didn't know she was supposed to grow up, 

and that makes her more fun than other grown-up people."

~from Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah~

Let's Bust a Recap : Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Okay, buckle up, Buttercups, because we're in for a rough ride with this one, and I'm just going to issue a spoiler warning right out of the gate because I'm sure we won't make it through this post without me spoiling something. Where the Forest Meets the Stars was a Christmas gift. I had never even heard of this book so it fit neatly into the "book given to you that you didn't ask for" category in The Unread Shelf's 2021 Unread Book Bingo. One of my best friends gave me this book and claimed it as a favorite and we generally have very similar taste so I actually went into this one looking forward to it. But man oh man was I in for a major letdown. 

When a battered little girl shows up (in the middle of nowhere, I might add) claiming to be an alien, Joanna Teale has to figure out what to do with her. Jo, an ornithologist and recent survivor of breast cancer, has been working on her graduate research of indigo bunting nests in rural Illinois, determined to prove all her recent hardships haven't broken her. Enlisting the help of nearby neighbor Gabe Nash, the three somehow become a family, but as time marches on, they have some difficult choices to make.

First of all, let me say that as much as I disliked this book, I had a hard time putting it down. While the writing wasn't great, the story was compelling, and I had a definite desire to learn how it all was going to shake out. I really didn't know whether to believe if Ursa was an alien or not and finding out kept me reading.

But (and that is an intentionally large "but") this book required me to suspend my disbelief to a degree that was ultimately unpalatable. I'll be the first person to admit that I love a happy ending, but after slogging through a book delving into the topics of parental deaths, breast cancer, major family dysfunction, traumatic child abuse, mental illness, and police crisis interventions; for every single character to come away with a sugary sweet ending wrapped in a sparkly bow was actually offensive. Our main character Jo became increasingly unlikable, unbelievable, and also the perpetrator of downright harmful ideology. Her treatment of Gabe's dysfunctional family dynamic and his lived experience was disturbing, to say the least. She is selfish, entitled, and manipulative, and I'm not sure how the author even expected us to like her. Gabe, after struggling for years with depression and agoraphobia, snaps out of it with a peppy good attitude (don't get me started). And Ursa, who has been traumatized to a paralyzing degree, functions throughout the book like a happy, well-adjusted child which makes the alien angle a whole heck of a lot more believable than the "reality" we're fed at the end of this novel. And I don't even want to get into the unrealistic portrait this narrative paints of foster care and social services.

Published in 2019, this is Glendy Vanderah's debut novel, and in writing this post I discovered that her second novel came out earlier this year. But, needless to say, I won't be reading anything else by her. Especially coming off the high of reading Where the Crawdads Sing which I would categorize in the same genre, Where the Forest Meets the Stars was a particularly unpleasant experience. The ugliness in this book by far outweighed any good qualities it might have had, and I can't recommend it.

What was the last book to really let you down? 

Let's Bust a Recap : Where the Crawdads Sing

Okay, so when I teased about a month ago that The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was tied for my favorite book of 2021 with some other mystery book: Where the Crawdads Sing is the other book I was talking about. Were you starting to wonder if I would ever tell you? 

When this book was published in 2018, it hit the shelves hot and everyone was talking about it. In just a little over a year, it sold more than four and a half million copies and it was still selling like hot cakes another year after that. When I had my little experimental year on the Instagram, I saw more posts about this book than I could shake a stick at.

But should I read it? Despite the many glowing reviews which were legion, a few of my friends with really great taste said they could take it or leave it and I was pretty undecided on whether I really cared enough to pick it up. This book went on and and then back off my amazon wishlist. In my mind, I had pretty much dismissed it when I happened across it at—you guessed it—The Book Shelter where I promptly decided it was meant to be and brought it home with me. Because can you ever beat a bestselling book less than a year old in hardcover for just $3.99? I submit you cannot.

And boy am I glad I didn't miss it because I fell squarely and solidly in the LOVED IT camp. 

Where the Crawdad Sings opens in the North Carolina marsh in 1969 where two young boys have stumbled upon the body of Chase Andrews, the town's star quarterback and known playboy. We then immediately flash back to 1952 where a young girl named Kya is learning to fend for herself as one by one her family abandons her. As the author weaves these timelines together—the one in which Chase's mysterious death is being investigated, and the other in which Kya is growing up alone in the marsh—she crafts a hauntingly beautiful coming-of-age story and a surprising tale of possible murder all wrapped up in an exquisite ode to the natural world. 

And I truly, truly loved it. I loved Delia Owens' gorgeous writing. I loved the murder mystery dynamic. I loved Kya and Jumpin' and Mabel. I loved the poetry of it. (And by the way, I almost spoiled the book for myself by Googling if Amanda Hamilton was a real poet because I wanted to buy a book of her poetry. Word to the wise: she's not and don't try to Google stuff about a book before you are finished reading said book!) While content-wise this is not a light read, it was heartbreakingly beautiful and I got completely swept up in Where the Crawdads Sing in the best possible way. 

I will add a trigger warning for attempted rape. In the past few years as I've waded more and more into contemporary fiction, I've really come to appreciate trigger warnings because there are certain issues and topics that are automatic dealbreakers for me when considering whether or not to add a book to my never-ending list of must-reads. So if this is something that would ruin your reading experience, then steer clear. 

And in a more general sense, I'll also add that there is some coarse language and a few sexual scenarios that may be off-putting if you try to avoid that when choosing your next book. 

But for me personally, this book was a total homerun and if Delia Owens writes any more fiction, I'll be checking it out for sure. 

Did you read Where the Crawdads Sing? Do you generally check out the latest bestsellers or wait to see if they stand the test of time? What's been your favorite book of 2021 so far?

Let's Bust a Recap : Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La

Y'all know I can't make it through a year without reading something by Robin Jones Gunn. In fact, I took a look back through all the year-end recaps I've posted since I started keeping a record of books I read and blogging about it, and in 2017 I read seven of her books. 

First up for 2021 was Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La, and (no big surprise here) it was a delight. I've slowly been making my way through the Sisterchicks books since 2017, only reading one each year, and this is the fifth one that I've read. The Sisterchicks books are the last of Robin Jones Gunn's novels that I haven't read, and I've only got three left. 

Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La was published in 2005 and in it we find childhood friends Amy and Lisa fulfilling a 30 year old promise to each other on the trip of a lifetime to the City of Lights. The book is chock-full of all the signature adventures Robin's characters find themselves in on these international trips. From getting their luggage stolen—and returned!—by a con man, to searching out old friends of Amy's Grandmére, to climbing the Eiffel Tower, Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La made me laugh and cry just as every other Sisterchicks book has done. After finishing it, I immediately bought a copy for my own childhood best friend because it reminded me of her and our relationship so much. 

I love how Robin can write a novel that remains faithful to real-life experience while still uplifting the reader and encouraging the heart. While I haven't found myself in all the same situations that Robin's characters encounter, I can always relate to their emotions and reactions. I often find myself nodding along in agreement or giggling conspiratorially with the sisterchick on the page. 

I'm sure with all the Robin Jones Gunn books I've recapped or mentioned over the last six years of blogging (and God bless all my real life friends who have to listen to me rave about them in person), I'm starting to sound like a broken record. But I am a tried-and-true fan, and I can't recommend her books enough. They are my go-to books when life gets too hard for me, and it is certainly no coincidence that I immediately picked one up after moving to NC. 

Who is your go-to author when life is too much? 

And P.S. my book is pictured with one of my favorite prints that I picked up from a street vendor on my own jaunt to Paris in 2008.