99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

Reviewed by Christy

            99 Percent Mine is Sally Thorne’s follow up to her smash debut The Hating Game. People were obsessed with The Hating Game and its main characters, but while I enjoyed the writing, the male love interest was just too much of a jerk for me to really like. Fortunately in Thorne’s new novel, the love interest Tom is a sweetie pie. It’s the female protagonist Darcy and her twin brother Jamie who are the brats.

            Still, I enjoyed this so much more than her previous novel. Darcy and Jamie grew up with Tom and consider him their best friend – even fighting over who he “belongs to.”  When globetrotting Darcy has to settle down for a few weeks in her deceased grandmother’s old cottage, she gets antsy. She’s there to help facilitate a renovation that Tom is overseeing. While she would love to find her missing passport and take off, she’s also thrilled to have alone time with Tom for once. She decides to stick around and force her way into becoming one of his workers. Sparks start to fly and not just from the faulty wiring.

            Darcy is funny, impulsive, and at times very selfish. Jamie is snobby, demanding, and at times very selfish. They both have a tendency to steamroll poor Tom into doing what they want. He usually happily complies because they’re the closest thing he’s got to a stable family. What I liked about this book in particular is that Darcy and Jamie realize their treatment of Tom has been unfair and try to better themselves. Unlike The Hating Game where the story treats Joshua’s faults as cute quirks, this story says “No, they can do better.”  99 Percent Mine is cute and breezy and very readable. The romance was sweet and realistic. Sally Thorne is a really fun writer and even though this just came out, I’m already looking forward to her next offering.

Nevermore: March, Kings and Queens, Guess Who, Our Souls at Night, Illustrated Man, Becoming

Reported by Jeanne

Nevermore opened with a very brief review of March by Gwendolyn Brooks.  The book explores the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the patriarch of the March family from Little Women, based in part on Bronson Alcott’s diaries just as Louisa May used her own family in her novel.  The book was very well written and interesting; the problem was that when the reviewer was several chapters into the book she realized she had already read it.  It was recommended.

The PBS documentary “Prince Charles at 70” inspired another member to pick up Kings & Queens of Great Britain to explore the lives all of all 60-plus rulers of England and Great Britain.  She was thoroughly enjoying it, but said she knew it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

A newcomer to Nevermore had just started reading Guess Who: A Novel by Chris McGeorge.  Morgan Sheppard, star of a reality TV show called “Resident Detective,” wakes up in a hotel room, handcuffed to a bed.  With him are five strangers and a corpse.  Morgan is told that he has three hours to solve the murder mystery or a bomb will go off.  The reader described it as a sort of classic locked room mystery, and that the book was off to a promising start.

Sometimes Nevermore readers have an innovative approach to their books.  Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf is the story of two lonely older people who develop a close and tender relationship.  Widow Addie approaches her neighbor, Louis, and suggests they spend their nights together—not for sex, but for companionship in the dark. Their comfortable and comforting time together is challenged when Addie’s grandson is sent for a visit. Our reader loved it up until the end, which she found unsatisfactory so “I just closed my eyes and wrote a new ending that made me happy.”

The Illustrated Man  by Ray Bradbury is a collection of science fiction stories, many of which originally appeared as standalone stories.  Bradbury created a side-show character whose body is covered in tattoos, each of which comes to life and tells a story.  Several of the tales are quite well known and have been filmed—“The Veldt” and “The Long Rain,” for example—but our reader was unimpressed.  She gave up after a story or two.

Becoming by Michelle Obama is still making the rounds in the club.  The current reader said she hadn’t yet reached the White House years, but was finding much to admire in the way that Mrs. Obama was deeply involved in her daughters’ lives while also juggling a demanding career and a husband with political aspirations. 

A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

Reviewed by Jeanne

Ginny Slocumb—aka “Big”-- isn’t usually superstitious, but she does have a fear of the number fifteen.  She was fifteen when she gave birth to her daughter Liza, and Liza was fifteen when she gave birth to her own daughter.  Now Mosey is reaching that dangerous age, and Big is watching her like a hawk, determined to stop the cycle. 

But it’s not as if Mosey is all she has to worry about:  Liza suffered a stroke before she was 30 and is struggling to learn to talk and move again.  Big thinks that water therapy was helping Liza, so she is determined to build a pool in their yard, despite having to take down Liza’s beloved willow tree.

When the tree comes down, a box is uncovered.  Big recognizes it immediately:  it belonged to Liza.

Inside are the bones of a baby.

The revelation shakes the family to their core, as Big and Mosey alternately try to unravel the mystery and keep it hidden, while Liza remains trapped in inside her head, struggling to communicate the truth.

A co-worker is a Joshilyn Jackson fan and always recommends her books, but I had not picked one up until Book Bingo.  The square was “Read a book by a Southern author,” so I decided this was my  chance.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I found myself captivated by A Grown Up Kind of Pretty.  The family is not quite respectable in the eyes of the eyes of the town; Liza, especially, is considered a “wild child,” not only for getting pregnant at 14 but for taking the baby and running off who knows where for several years.  Women in town regard her suspiciously, sure she is about to make off with their husbands—or at the very least have a fling.  Mosey is considered suspect because of her mother, and Big—well, Big is a force of nature, trying to protect her family.  The book alternates points of view between the three women, giving each a distinct and memorable voice.

Jackson’s stories have been described as having an “earthy” quality, and I would certainly agree to that; while there’s no explicit sex scenes, things are discussed frankly.  What impressed me the most, though, is the bonds of love between the three generations.  The book is also very, very funny, and there are enough twists and turns in the plot to keep a reader glued to the book.  Characterization is one of Jackson’s strong suits: she creates people we care for and want to know more about even after the book comes to an end.

In a way, Jackson’s writing reminds me of another author I love, Sarah Addison Allen. Although Allen’s books are sweeter and lack Jackson’s grit, the emotions evoked are similar.  

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with the Slocumbs, and I’ll probably pick up another Joshilyn Jackson book in the future. 

Exploring Middle Earth with John Howe and Alan Lee

Review by Ambrea

Recently, I have been on a steady literary diet of The Lord of the Rings.  I spent a couple of weeks reacquainting myself with the trilogy, as well as its comical prequel, The Hobbit, and then I found a couple of gems that neatly crossover with the movies:  The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook by Alan Lee and A Middle-earth Traveler:  Sketches from Bag End to Mordor by John Howe.

Both Howe and Lee worked as illustrators for Peter Jackson’s movies, and Lee served as the illustrator for the centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings (a special publication for Tolkien’s 100^th birthday).  Given their direct experience with the movies and the books, as well as their history in fantasy art, I knew I was sure to be in for a treat when I finally acquired copies of their sketchbooks—and, I can safely say, I was not disappointed.

I first picked up A Middle-earth Traveler, and I was absolutely blown away by Howe’s beautiful illustrations and sketches.  His book encompasses everything from his work on The Lord of the Rings movies to his contributions to The Hobbit movies, as well as peeks into Tolkien’s other works, like The Silmarillion and his collections of “lost tales” compiled by Christopher Tolkien.  Howe delves into forests and deep places, like Mirkwood and Erebor; he explores the forgotten histories and lost places of the Númenóreans; he imagines monstrous creatures, like Scatha the Worm and Ungoliant (the horrific sire to Shelob), and the creation of the world by the Varla.

Although I love The Lord of the Rings, I’ve realized with Howe’s book that I know less than I would like.  I’ve read pieces here and there and I’ve gathered a fair bit of the history from reading Tolkien’s books, including The Children of Húrin, but I have much to learn from The Silmarillion and his other works.  (Those are up next on my list!)

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook was very different from A Middle-earth Traveler.  Lee’s sketchbook feels like a real sketchbook, like I’m getting a peek into the direct process of his work.  When I compared the two, I think A Middle-earth Traveler has cleaner lines and smoother sketches, and I think it offers a wider variety of images.  The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook takes quite a different tact, showing messier pages with smudges and doodles in the corners.  Lee’s sketchbook, in a way, feels more intimate, because I felt as if I were getting a chance to see the raw images before anyone else.

Additionally, I noticed that The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook is much more focused.  Since Lee worked on the movies with Peter Jackson and crafted illustrations for a special edition of the books, he zeroes in specifically on images from the trilogy.  He offers beautiful watercolor images from Tolkien’s trilogy and pencil sketches of characters, but he doesn’t stray into the larger world.  From the Bag End to the Grey Havens, he follows the linear path of the story, rather than diving deeper into the history of Middle-earth.

As a side note, I found it rather thrilling to see facial illustrations of Gandalf and Galadriel as they were imagined and created for the movies.  I’m a big fan of Ian McKellan, so I was tickled to see an illustration of him on the first page, along with a lovely foreword.

Overall, I enjoyed both books immensely and I can’t find I really have a favorite.  Both books have images that I have seen in the movies—for instance, I’m fairly certain Meduseld and Helm’s deep are a perfect collaboration between Lee and Howe, though I think details or Gandalf are all Lee—and each book had its own merits.  Lee’s Sketchbook, for example, has intimate insight into the illustrator’s process and his own experiences from the movies; whereas, Howe’s Middle-earth Traveler explores the world broadly and investigates more than just The War of the Ring.

However, if I had to pick one and only one, I would probably select A Middle-earth Traveler by John Howe.  Lee’s illustrations are exquisite, and I enjoyed following along as his sketches grew and evolved over the course of the movies; however, Howe’s book offers a deeper look at Middle-earth, which I really liked.  Since I already know much about The Lord of the Rings, A Middle-earth Traveler feels like it has a little more supplementary material, a way of exploring the history and boundaries of the world without leaving the original stories behind.